


Danganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 3

by STARRY_RlN



Series: The Killing Idol Festival [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 22:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11930241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARRY_RlN/pseuds/STARRY_RlN
Summary: The third chapter of my Love Live/Danganronpa AU!Here's just a reminder to read the first two chapters before this one since they'll obviously be spoiled in this!





	Danganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

> I learned how to properly add chapters after uploading the second one and didn't want to go through the trouble of taking it down and posting it again when it already had as many hits and Kudos as it did so sorry about that :') this is how I'll be posting them all now just to make it the same.

**_CHAPTER 3_ **

**_Falling to Despair and The Ascension of Hope_ **

 

Eli had just been exposed for killing Kanan. Nozomi just told me I had accidentally sentenced Kanan’s death. And I was also told that I would be the only one that could solve the future cases, that without me even Maki, who seemed to be the one leading the cases with myself merely piecing together the scraps she gave me, would fail to discover who had killed. But I trusted what was said. I trusted Nozomi’s words and the responsibility that was being placed on me. I did not know when Maki would die, when the weight of that responsibility would be placed on my back. All I knew was that four people had died. Honoka was the first to die. Her skull bashed by Kotori who was pecked to death in Monokuma’s punishment. The third to leave us was Kanan, her stomach slashed numerous times by Eli, who was then crushed inside a massive doll in Monokuma’s second punishment. There were many questions, who would die next, who will be the next person to betray them. So far life in Monokuma’s Hotel of Despair was nothing but betrayal. Honoka was betrayed by Kotori, her best friend since childhood. Kanan was betrayed by Eli, someone she thought understood her, someone she thought had the same ideals as her, someone she thought she could trust to work with. Even before that, You had stabbed me in her initial confusion. Even someone as kindhearted and soft as You had it in herself to harm someone else in order to leave this hotel. It was almost as if there was no safety, anyone could attack at any time. Even those I thought I could trust, maybe Maki, Riko, Mari, anyone could strike. Maybe even the softies, it could be Rin, Hanayo, Ruby, anyone could kill, this was Monokuma’s plan. To make us think that way, to make us lose our trust. But I can’t let that happen, I can’t give in! No matter what motive, no matter who dies, I can’t give in to Monokuma’s attempt to divide us, we must stick together. We may fall to three as Monokuma planned. We may make it out some other way. But there’s one thing I promised Eli before her death, and it’s the first thing I have on my mind now that the trial is over.

“Chika, why are you still here, I wanted to wait to see how long it would take you to snap back to your senses but clearly you’re way out there.” Maki was the only other person still in the Commons Area, apparently she’s been watching me the whole time I’ve been lost in thought. “Well, since you have so much time why don’t you follow me, there’s something that may answer one question you could have.”

“Huh? What question? Have you been reading my mind?”

“I leave that mystic stuff to Nozomi, now come on.”

Maki walked off and I had to jog a bit to catch up. She turned down the central hall and into Storage.

As we walked down the hall I had glanced at the wall, there was still no door to Management. Maybe we really had lost our only chance to enter.

“Ok, now look around and tell me what you find.”

“Wait what? What’s this about?

“Come on, we haven’t got all day, after the trial it’s already about noon I’d wager.”

“Ok then, I guess you’re not wrong, I just don’t get what I’m supposed to be looking for.”

As I looked around I saw various items ranging in usefulness, portable propane tanks like Hanayo had used to make Ramen for Rin, a tool kit, I wasn’t sure what exactly Maki expected me to find.

“Here’s a hint, you’re not looking for something that’s here, you’re looking for something that isn’t.”

Maki’s been making less and less sense recently. How am I supposed to find something that’s not even here?

“The weapon used to kill Kanan Matsuura, do you know what it is?”

“Wh-what? You said it was about 0.9mm thick right? I’m sure if I looked in some books in the Libra-”

“No, I’m asking if you can think of what the weapon is  _ now _ . Obviously it’s something that should be in this room, otherwise why would I bring you here. And it must be pretty small for Eli to have snuck it out like she did.”

“I-I’m not sure? Is it some type of utility knife or something?”

“Exactly, look again, can you find a utility knife anywhere in here? Eli took it and likely hid it somewhere, now why don’t you follow me again, I want to see Monokuma’s clean up work again anyways.”

Maki left and walked into the stage, just as had been the case with Honoka, Kanan’s body was now gone, and Riko had beaten us into the room already.

“Didn’t you already paint Kanan’s corpse when the investigation was happening? Why are you here?”

“Hey Maki, Chika. I just thought it would be best to paint Eli’s execution in the same room where she committed her crime. It gives me a better atmosphere to paint in, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, that’s smart Riko! Just as I would expect from one of the girls I love!”

“Eheheh, come on Chika, you don’t have to be like that, you’ll cloud my mind and it’ll be harder for me to focus on painting!”

“Cloud your mind with what? What the three of us are going to be doing tonight?”

You had come into the room behind myself and Maki.

“Y-You! Don’t say stuff like that, it’s embarrassing!”

“Hehehe, you’re so fun to tease Riko!”

“Tch, come on Chika, you can have your little get together tonight, just get over here.”

“You know, I just thought about this but aren’t I older than you Maki?”

“Wha-what?”

“Yeah, I’m a second year, you’re a first year. I guess that makes me older than you! Hehehe!”

“J-Just look under this table already, I don’t have the patience for this right now.”

I listened to Maki and looked under the table, sure enough, taped to the underside of it was a utility knife, much like the type you would use to cut open a cardboard box.

“So you’re saying this thing is the weapon used? Isn’t it a bit, you know, small?”

“Of course, that’s why there were so many cuts, just one wouldn’t have been enough, Kanan likely would’ve been able to keep herself alive long enough for us all to wake up and Dia to find her in the morning.”

Eli killing Kanan just keeps getting more and more terrifying the more I think about it, the fact that Eli had to have cut through her so many times, it was scary.

“It really was merciless, Eli makes me sick right now.”

“No, that’s wrong!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Eli really wasn’t that merciless, she had her reasons, she just wasn’t thinking clearly, she wasn’t doing it for herself, she was doing it for Nozomi, she had just forgotten that if she succeeded Nozomi would have been executed!”

“So she was an idiot, well better a fool than a villain I guess, remember to watch yourself Chika, never go somewhere alone, always keep at least two people with you.”

Maki left and You, myself , and Riko were alone in the Stage.

“Chika, should we sleep in your room together again?”

“Yeah, that’s probably the safest choice, it’s best to stick together!”

“Ok, well do you think you two could leave so I can focus on finishing Eli’s painting?”

“Yeah, yeah, see you later Riko!”

You and I left Riko in the Stage to finish her painting. As we left You turned to me and proposed something to me.

“We should make something for Riko!”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Well I was thinking that since we’re all together and she’s doing something as great as making these painting for us, we should do something for her, pamper her a bit, you know? Maybe we can make her a fancy breakfast or something tomorrow!”

“That may not be a bad idea, yeah! We should totally do something for her! She definitely deserves it! But how are we going to do it? The cafeteria is blocked off during nighttime.”

“Hmm, you’re right. Is there some way for us to make food for her without getting in there?”

“Hey Chika, what’s going on? You two seem to be thinking about something.”

“Oh! Hey there Hanayo, You and I are trying to think of a way for us to make a special breakfast for Riko. Her favourite foods are breakfast foods so it makes the most sense but the Cafeteria and Kitchen are blocked off during nighttime.”

“Well there’s still some propane left and all the equipment from when I made ramen for Rin is still in the Commons Area, you could probably just bring all the stuff you want to make the night before.”

“Yeah, that would probably make a lot of sense! You’re a good thinker Hanayo!”

“A-am I? Well either way, I guess I’ll see you around, I was just about to go see Dia and Ruby, they were both looking at me funny earlier so I’m afraid I upset them somehow.”

“Hm, I don’t think so, you’re Ruby’s favourite member of μ’s and Dia adores you all!”

“W-wait really? I’m Ruby’s favourite member? I’m always at the bottom of popularity polls, even the international ones. I’m happy I’m at least the favourite of someone here!”

“Yeah! Ruby really likes you, she’s idolized you for years, ever since Dia introduced μ’s to her!”

“Huh, well I still want to talk to them, I’m not sure if they’re still just starstruck or what but I don’t think so. There has to be something going on, at the very least Dia should have recovered by now and be used to us being here.”

“You’d be surprised how Dia can be, she seems tough on the outside but when you get to know her she’s really soft and expressive!”

“Hm, well I’m already heading that way so I think I’ll just go talk to them anyways.”

“Yeah, it’s good to talk to each other, we can’t distance ourselves, we can’t let Monokuma set his seed of mistrust in us! We can all figure this out and get out of here!”

“Y-yeah, we’ll figure it out, the two of us will definitely get out of here!”

“Hey, don’t forget me!”

“Yeah, y-you’ll get out too You, we’ll all get out together!”

“That’s right! We’ll all be okay! We’ll all get out! Have fun with Dia and Ruby, Hanayo.”

“Y-yeah, see you around I guess.”

Hanayo walked off down the hall towards the bedrooms and I realised I hadn’t looked at where Kanan’s or Eli’s rooms were, I could only assume that their doors had been removed and replaced by a wall like Honoka’s and Kotori’s had been.

You rose her hands over her head and stretched like she was trying to get my attention and dropped her hands behind herself.

“So, should we look to see if there’s a cooler in the Storage room to put the food for Riko’s gift in?”

“There’s no cooler in the storage room, I was just there with Maki. Maybe there’s one in the Kitchen?”

“Yeah, I guess that would be the next place to check, well let’s go!”

You walked off ahead of me and I followed behind her. As I passed the central hall I felt a tap on my shoulder and Maki had her finger to her lips signaling for me to be quiet.

“Hey, You, I’ll catch up with you, I may have actually missed a cooler in the Storage room, I’ll check again, just get some of the stuff you wanted to make!”

You turned back from where she was in the hall and I could tell she could call my bluff.

“O-ok, if you say so. Be quick, ok?”

“Yeah, it won’t take long!”

I ducked into the hall with Maki and she pulled me into the public bathroom of all places.

“Listen, there’s something I just wanted to inform you of since I’m not sure you’ve noticed.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Well there’s actually two things you’ve been ignorant of but that’s for another time. More importantly, you’re partially in fault of Kanan’s death.”

I was taken aback, there was no way she could know what Nozomi’s fortune was. She couldn’t have known that my choice had unknowingly caused Kanan to die!

“W-wait what? What do you mean by that?”

“Think, how come Eli knew Riko had left her door open?”

“B-because I had said so in front of everyone...”

“See? If you hadn’t said that then Eli wouldn’t have had access to the uniform to gag Kanan.”

So she didn’t know about Nozomi’s fortune, she was just being unreasonable with pointing blame.

“But she just could’ve used another uniform or something else!”

“No, she couldn’t have used her own and she was never alone in Nozomi’s room. She never had access to anyone else’s room and she had nothing else to use.”

“But what about all the clothes in the Closet? And why couldn’t she use her own and put blame on Nozomi or Nico?”

“The clothes in the Closet wouldn’t have diverted blame and if she had used her own it would have been obvious that it was hers, it would have been obvious it wasn’t Nico’s due to the lack of Nico’s cardigan and Nozomi’s would have had a larger chest than Eli’s”

“Couldn’t the cardigan have been taken away? The chest size is a better argument for Nico, and Eli and Nozomi only have a 2cm difference, I’m not sure it would be easy enough to tell with the naked eye!”

“Nico’s would’ve been more vibrant due to the lack of wear from sunlight. As for Nozomi, we would’ve just had Nozomi put it on, it would have been tight on her. Also wait, how do you know their measurements?”

“I’m a μ’s fangirl, all nine of you have had your measurements officially revealed, of course I would know them by heart!”

“That’s… somewhat disturbing, but either way, you can’t deny that Eli wouldn’t have been able to divert attention like she had without the access to Riko’s room you had provided.”

“That may be true but that didn’t cause the killing, it just created an additional complication! Why are you trying to make me feel like I caused this? Have you already fallen into Monokuma’s trap? Are you trying to help create unease? Why are you doing this?”

“I’m just telling you what I believe, if you had not given that information this would have been much easier to put together.” Maki started to walk out of the bathroom and spoke her final words over her shoulder. “I hope you watch what you say, I don’t want my case to be made more difficult by your thoughtlessness.”

There she was again, saying that she would be killed. She truly seemed to think she would die due to her position as leader. I looked at the bathroom realising I hadn’t been in here yet and I saw that there were three stalls, a closet with cleaning supplies, two shower stalls, and 3 sinks with mirrors and two soap dispensers between them. It seemed almost like the bathroom fit more in a school building than a hotel.

As I was about to leave I looked at the floor and saw a faint, dark ring on it. I wasn’t sure what it was but I didn’t think to put much thought into it.

I left and as I was about to head to the Kitchen I ran into Dia, literally. As I turned the corner to go to the east hall I ran headfirst into Dia and fell to the ground on top of her.

“H-hey, this is why you shouldn’t run in the halls! Get off of me Chika.”

“H-huh? S-sorry, I didn’t expect you to be there!”

“They never do, well either way I was looking for you, I wanted to talk to you and You said you should be in the Storage room.”

“Y-yeah, I was uh, just looking for something, nothing important!”

I realized I almost spilt the plans to make Riko a breakfast gift and covered it up pretty poorly but Dia didn’t seem like she wanted to press me, she almost seemed sad.

“Ok well, I just thought I should tell you why I was in the stage this morning in the first place to find Kanan’s body.”

“H-huh? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to!”

“No, my conscience won’t let me not tell you, I need to get it off my chest.”

“Ok then, what is it?”

“I was going to do some of the μ’s dances, The outfits are here and I was going to try them on and do dance mirrors, that’s why I was there, I just wanted that off my chest, you made the most sense because you had seen me trying the outfits on in the first place and Nozomi probably would have patronized me, so there.”

“Ok, I’m not sure anyone else minds, if you hadn’t found the body who knows how long it would have taken for anyone to notice it?”

“Well I’m sure we would have noticed Kanan was nowhere to be found and searched for her, but thanks for the encouragement, I’m going to go make sure Pana and Ruby are getting along well.”

“Pana? You mean Hanayo?”

“Yes, of course, I’m honestly surprised you don’t use the fan nickname.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Pana’s name is put next to Rin’s the Ha turns into Pa, hence the name NicoRinPana.”

“How did I not know this, I’m a fake fan, I need to have all of their names burnt into my skin to pay for this.”

“H-hey! Don’t do anything irrational now, the fact I can teach you things like this is kind of nice, I like to teach things like this.”

“Heheh, you’re so motherly Dia, I’m happy you’re around!”

“Hm, well thanks for the compliment, I really should go check on Ruby though, I need to make sure she’s ok being alone with her favourite μ’s member.”

Dia walked off towards the west hall, I followed her awkwardly until we passed the Cafeteria where I ducked in and crossed to the Kitchen where You had a bunch of food in a cooler.

“Hey so there was a cooler here? I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t find one in the Storage room!”

“Uh, yeah, actually this was in the Commons Area, it probably was in storage but Hanayo just never brought it back.”

“Oh! That actually makes a lot of sense!”

“So uh, who were you talking to? Other than Dia I mean.”

“Hm? O-oh, yeah, I thought you could tell I was lying, Maki wanted to talk to me, it was more of a guilt trip than anything though.”

“Wait what? What was she saying? I’m not ok with someone saying bad things to you!”

“N-no, don’t worry about it, I don’t believe what she said myself so it’s nothing for you to worry about!”

“Hmm, fine, if you say so. Still! I’m not ok with her saying anything bad to you!”

“Really, don’t worry, it’ll probably be nighttime soon, we should get done with this and go get Riko so we can sleep together again.”

“Yeah, you carry all those pots on the counter there and I’ll move the cooler, there’s no wheels on it and it’s pretty heavy so I’m not sure I’d want to risk having you take it.”

“Hey! You’re right but hey!

“Heheh, come on Chika let’s go.”

The end of her sentence was stressed as she lifted the cooler and began to walk towards the Commons Area. I took everything that she had put on the counter and followed behind her.

You walked over to a couch in the corner of the room and kicked it to the side. She placed the cooler behind it and I placed what I had on top of it. You moved the couch back to hide it all and stepped back to look at our hiding spot.

“Well, this is where Hanayo had it so I guess it’s no surprise it’s well hidden, we should go check on Riko, see if she’s finished her painting yet.”

“She probably has, but yeah, let’s go see her.”   
The two of us walked down to the Stage and when we got there I opened the door.

It was awful,, the floor was covered in a sea of red.

“Hey! I knocked over some of the paint while I was cleaning up, do you think you can help? There’s a lot of it.”

“Wow Riko, we leave you for a few hours and this happens, I guess you can’t be trusted alone.”

“Hey, Chika! Come on! Just help me clean it all! There’s no mop in the Storage room so I’ve been stuck with paper towels, more hands would be a huge help.”

“Actually there’s a mop in the bathroom, there’s a closet full of cleaning supplies in there!”

“Oh! I didn’t even think to check there, this is a hotel after all, if we were in a school then I could see there being a closet like that but for a hotel that’s unusual.”

“It’s unusual for a hotel to even have a public bathroom or only have 18 rooms but I get what you mean, maybe Monokuma built this place special for us.”

“Well if that’s the case the person who designed this and put all of us here must be seriously sick.”

“Yeah, well I’ll go get the mop now!”

I ran out of the Stage and to the Bathroom and took both the mop and a bucket. I filled the bucket with water and took it into the stage.

“Here you go! One mop as requested!”

“Thanks Chika, I’m glad you knew about this, it’ll make cleaning way easier!”

“Yeah, it really is weird that the Bathroom had this, and there’s not separate bathroom for guys, just one bathroom, it really must have been made just for all of us.”

The three of us cleaned the mess Riko had made and poured the dirty water into the shower. As we left the Bathroom we heard a familiar tone followed by a typical announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, the Cafeteria, Central hall, and Exercise rooms are now off limits.”

“Well, I guess we should head to my room now.”

“Yeah, let’s go, I’m happy we’re all together now!”

“Yeah! And I won’t let either of you die, as long as we’re together neither of you are allowed to be killed!”

“Of course, the same goes for you Chika, no matter what happens I will be there for you and protect you!”

“Me too, I’ll lay down my life for you two, You, Chika, as long as I am able I will protect you both!”

“Hey, don’t say you’ll lay down your life, I couldn’t live with myself if you die for me!”

“Sorry Chika, but I can’t take that back, if you were in danger and I knew it I would kill the attacker and let myself be executed in the trial, the same goes for you, You. I don’t want you two to die!”

“Fine, I’ll just never put myself in danger! That way you won’t die! As long as I’m not attacked you’ll be immortal!”

“Hehe, I’m not sure that’s how it works but I guess it’s the thought that counts.”

“Hm, you can’t die Riko, it won’t happen, even if the worst happens and it falls to only three survivors like Monokuma’s rules say, those three survivors will be us! We won’t die!”

We wound up in front of my room and went in.

“Hey Riko, you should go get something to change into now so you don’t have to walk back to your room tomorrow.”

“Hey, we’re not that far off, I don’t get why I can’t share your clothes too Chika!”

“Really? I thought we were pretty far off.”

“Actually she’s only 2cm smaller than us for chest, and she’s right between us for both waist and hips.”

“Wait what? Aren’t you the one who said she had to go wear her own clothes since she wouldn’t fit well in mine?”

“Hehehe, I was just messing with her!”

“That’s really mean You! Sharing clothes is a sacred part of a relationship! Kanan and Mari do!”

As I said that I realized my mistake, You looked down and the mood suddenly dropped like a rock.

“L-Let’s just go to sleep.”

“Yeah, good idea Riko…”

Riko got in farthest from the door and I got in behind her. You laid behind me and whispered so Riko couldn’t hear her.

“I’m not going to sleep tonight, I’ll wake you up at four so we can go cook for Riko.”

I nodded in silent agreement and went right out, probably because all my energy was drained by my comment about Kanan.

I felt myself being shaken slightly and I opened my eyes. All I saw was red. My face was buried in Riko’s hair. I turned and saw You with barely noticeable bags forming under her eyes.

“Come one Chika, Let’s go.”

I pushed myself up and looked over Riko at the digital clock beside my bed, it read 4:03. I guess it took You 3 minutes to wake me up, I didn’t realize I was that heavy of a sleeper.

You got up and walked to the door waiting for me to go out. I carefully got up so I wouldn’t disturb Riko and walked out before You who shut the door very carefully. Luckily the floors were all carpeted so they weren’t cold to walk on.

As we walked by the rooms we saw the occupancy of everyone’s rooms. Of course Riko’s and You’s were empty, as well as Dia’s, Yoshiko’s, and Maru’s. I can only assume Dia, Yoshiko, and Maru are in Ruby’s room. Honoka, Kotori, Kanan, and Eli of course all had no rooms and where they would have been were paintings of the four of them. Riko must have put up Eli’s before she started to clean the paint she had knocked over. Maybe it was when I was with Maki? Or maybe when You and I were in the Kitchen.

You pushed open the door to the Commons Area and we saw something we didn’t expect. Monokuma was sitting on his table.

“Hey, you two are up early. Do you believe in the phrase ‘Early Bird get’s the worm’? I’m sure Kotori must have! She was the first to kill after all.”

“Wait what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for morning to give you all your next motive of course!”

“Wait so soon?”

“Yes You, you will have your next motive in what you, You, call morning. You is a fun name in text, did you know it’s written the same as the english word you? For example You looks red!”

“Shut up and go away! We want to make a gift for Riko!”

“Oh? You mean that cooler you brought in here yesterday? Feel free! But you’ll have me here. I can play some romantic violin music for you if you want!”

“Grr, come one Chika, we’ll make it tomorrow, I don’t want us to have to eat with this jerk in the corner of the room.”

“Why are you growling? I’m the bear here! I could get it if Rin was hissing but you’re you, You!”

“You really get on my nerves Monokuma.”

“What are you going to do? Hit me? If you do then you’d be breaking my rules, so maybe think twice You.”

You walked out without responding pulling me behind her. I scanned my Monobook and opened our door.

You spoke in an angry whisper to try not to wake up Riko.

“Let’s just try to sleep for the couple hours we have left.”

“Yeah, you look like you need it.”

I got in bed and put my back to Riko and You got in after, burying her face in my neck. I dozed off again and woke up to the same usual alarm.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

I could feel movement both in front of and behind me as both Riko and You were putting on my clothes.

“Hey, why do we all have to wear my clothes? I wanna wear your clothes too!”

“Why don’t both of you wear my clothes today? Then Chika and I can wear some of You’s clothes tomorrow and we can make a cycle after that!”

“Yeah, we should all share clothes and get closer to each other that way!”

“Ok well after I’m done changing we can all go to my room and you can both pick out something to wear!”

I looked away as Riko changed and I saw You peeking while pretending not to look as well.

“Ok, you two can look now, let’s go get you two dressed!”

Riko walked out of my room and You and I followed her into hers. She scanned her Monobook and we went in. Somehow there was someone on her bed.

“Upupu, how’s it going you three?”

“Monokuma! What are you doing in my room?”

“Well, I just thought you might want to know about the new rule, after the mention of counting clothes in the last trial I decided it was high time we add another rule!”

“Wh-what? What do you mean a new rule?”

“You aren’t allowed to share clothes! You’ve been playing dress-up instead of killing each other! Besides, someone suddenly having fewer outfits than anyone else would cause quite a bit of confusion would it not? So why not make it something a killer can use to get someone else accused! Truly despair inducing if I do say so myself!”

“B-but, sharing clothes is an important act of love! We need to do this!”

“Too bad! Less love, more murder!”

Suddenly our Monobooks all made a ding and when I turned mine on it displayed “Rule 14: The intentional sharing of clothing with a living resident is prohibited.”

“This is unfair! It’s such an arbitrary rule! No killer is going to use someone else’s clothes after Eli!”

“Upupu, this is exactly what I like, you’ve got a lot of fire You, now aim it at the others! Use that fire to kill someone in cold blood!”

“No! I’d never do something so heartless!”

“Haven’t you already tried though?”

You was taken aback. She had nothing to say, Monokuma was right. She had tried to kill me on the first day we were here. She was actually the first to attempt a killing.

“No Monokuma, you’re wrong, that was her body moving without her thought, she was the one who called for help after all!”

“Upupu, well, no matter what you say, the rule stands! Now get out of here!”

“But this is my room!”

“Huh, I guess you’re right, well You and Chika need to leave still, and Riko put on your own clothes!”

Monokuma pushed You and I out of Riko’s room and the door shut behind us.

“I guess we can’t share clothes anymore, Monokuma’s really getting on my nerves!”

“I know what you mean You but we can’t let him get to us, we can show our love in so many other ways! Let’s get dressed and get to the Cafeteria now.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

You went into her room and I went into mine to change. When I came out You, Riko and Maki were waiting for me.

“You three took way too long this morning, get ready faster tomorrow.”

“Uh, s-sorry, we got held up by Monokuma.”

“You already gave me the run down, just don’t let it happen again.”

“It’s not like it’s something we can control! Leave Chika alone! What’s your problem with her?”

“Tch, just come on, the longer we talk the more time we waste.”

“You’ve been getting meaner lately, I don’t like this change!”

“I’m just getting more careful, if we aren’t punctual who knows when you’ll wind up dead? I’m trying to keep you safe you idiot!”

Maki had stopped and turned to me when she shouted that at me. She had a point, I felt kinda bad for saying what I did, she really is just looking out for us.

“S-sorry Maki, You really are just trying to be helpful, I appreciate you.”

“Hmph, now come on, there’s something I want to discuss today.”

Maki walked into the Cafeteria and stood in a central position of the room.

“Ok, so let’s discuss the next motive.”

“Huh? Why not just wait for Monokuma to give it to us?”

“Nozomi we can’t just sit idly by, we need to prepare, all of us are close, all of us have at least one person we can’t let die. I’m sure Monokuma realizes this, he’s more than likely going to create a motive for us that will work with that.”

“What do you mean zura? I’m not sure there’s any motive he could give that would cause us to leave those we love with all our hearts.”

“Think, Mari, Umi, and Nozomi have all lost those people, I’m sure his motive will be targeted at one of those three, but that’s almost too obvious, I’m sure our next blackened will be someone else.”

“What does that even mean?”

As Maki and the others were talking I glanced over at You. She was looking at the clock above the door to the Cafeteria. It was 8:29. Suddenly she lifted her hand and counted down. Three fingers. Two fingers. One finger. And everyone’s Monobooks went off at once. 14 simultaneous dings. It seems Monokuma gives his motives at 8:30.

I took my Monobook out and as expected, it had a message for me.

 

**_This Is an Important Bulletin_ **

**_All residents of the Hotel of Despair please report to the Commons Area at once_ **

 

It seems Monokuma was telling the truth, it was time for our next motive.

“Hmp, guess the speculation was for nothing, why is he pushing us along so quickly? The trial was yesterday and we’re already getting our next motive, it’s like there’s something he’s scared of. Something that will ruin his plans if enough time passes.”

“Or maybe he just really wants us to die off.”

“Don’t be so glum Umi.”

“You’d be like this if you lost You and Riko, wouldn’t you be Chika?”

“I-I guess you’re right there…”

“Come on already, no point in dilly dallying.”

Maki led us out of the Cafeteria and towards the Commons Area. You, Riko, and I were in the back and as we entered we saw Monokuma in the same spot he had been last night. It was as if he never left to tell us that we couldn’t share clothes anymore.

“Upupu, so I’m sure you can guess why you’re here?”

“Yeah yeah, just give us the damn motive already bear.”   
“Hm? Well maybe I won’t Yazawa, maybe you’re here for a pizza party! Who likes pineapple?”

“So your motive is to try to start a flame war? I expected better from you Monokuma.”

“Upupu, I’m starting to like you Nishikino, well yeah, I brought you for the motive.”

“Ok so what is it?”

“Well as you guessed in the Cafeteria… You’re too close! There’s no way you people are about to go and kill each other like this! So I decided to use that closeness against you, Upupu.”

“Hm? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The motive this time is that if you become blackened and you aren’t found then you can pick someone who isn’t blackened to leave alongside you!”

“What? That’s against your rules though! If the blackened isn’t found you’re supposed to kill everyone else!”

“Oh? Maybe you should look at rule four again, Upupu.”

I took out my Monobook as did many other girls. I checked rule four and the text was clearly changed. “Rule 4: If the blackened is not exposed, all remaining girls will be executed  _ unless there is reason for them to live _ .”

“I-It’s different! What the heck?”

“Ruby! Don’t swear.”

“S-sorry sis, I’ll be more careful.”

“Upupu, didn’t I say rules can be changed at my discretion? I decided this was necessary!”

“Whatever, we got your damn motive, get out of here.”

“Nico, stop saying that in front of Ruby zura! You’ll be a bad influence!”

“Whatever, if we’re living like this I’m dropping the persona, it gets tiring, maybe you should drop the zura, it’s annoying.”

“I can’t zura. I try but it just comes out!”

“I’m leaving, I can’t take this, deal with this yourselves, I’m not putting up with it, kill someone I don’t care, just don’t mess with me. Maki come on.”

Nico was acting weird, she’s normally really happy and spreads joy, I don’t know what’s wrong with her so suddenly.

“Nico should lighten up at least, quit being so rude about it, but whatever. Let her be her, she’ll probably get over it.”

“Wait, is this normal Umi?”

“Yeah, this is the real Nico, she never shows it but this is what she’s like. She’s nicer with her siblings and other people she cares about like Maki, but I guess Monokuma’s just gotten her angry enough that she doesn’t care anymore.”

“Hmm, well, well I know a few people we could rule out here.”

“Huh? What do you mean Chika?”

“I mean the some of us can’t possibly be the killer, Ruby couldn’t choose one person to survive between you and Maru, you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself taking Maru away from Ruby and Maru couldn’t take you away from her. Myself, You, and Riko couldn’t since we’re a trio, and I guess that’s sort of it, maybe the same also goes for Yoshiko feeling guilty taking Ruby away from Maru or Maru from Ruby.”

“Yes that’s true, As a fallen angel I could not possibly crush the hope of my most devoted little demons. I couldn’t possibly do something like that to either Zuramaru or Ruby.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if it’ll work out though, I hope we can make it. I just want to have faith in everyone, have faith they won’t kill over something like this. If we just live I’m sure we can make it, Monokuma seems like he feels almost rushed after all, there has to be something up with that!”

“You’re right Dia, we just have to live, try to stick together, that’s all we can do!”

“Well, I’m going to go. Ruby wanted to relax in the Courtyard looking at the flowers today so I decided that I’d join her.”

“Oh? Can I come too zura?”

“Hmph, of course you can Maru.”

The three of them left the Commons Area and I saw the only girls who were left were Yoshiko, You, Riko, and Umi.

“You, come with me, I found a charm I can cast that will be able to protect us without sacrificing you!”

“How much blood does it take, we went over this already.”

“Don’t worry, this one only takes a little bit! You’ll be totally safe this way!”

“Hm, ok, that’s fine I guess, I’ll be leaving the two of you alone then, don’t do anything fun without me! Hehehe.”

“Y-You, we won’t! Why do you keep saying things like that.”

“It’s because you’re so cute when you’re flustered Riko!”

“Well, be careful not to get into trouble with Yoshiko.”

“I’ll be fine Chika, I won’t let her tie me up this time.”

“That would probably be good, well if it’ll keep us safe then I’m all for it!”

“Wonderful, now come You, there are rituals to be had!”

“Y-yeah! Let’s go Yohane.”

Yoshiko left practically dragging You behind her. You looked sort of worried but I’m sure she’ll be fine.

I looked back around the room and Umi was still here. She was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room and staring at the wall beside her. She must still be taking the loss of both Kotori and Honoka pretty hard.

“You doing ok there Umi? You’ve been pretty down.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“I’m not sure that’s right.”

“Of course it’s not, do you think I’m ok? Do you think I’m all happy rainbows? I trusted Kotori, she was my best friend, for her to turn and kill Honoka, it’s awful, and Eli, I don’t understand how she could do that, she’s probably the smartest person in μ’s, for her to think so stupidly and kill Kanan like that, I don’t get it, I don’t get how this is happening, I don’t get how everyone can turn on each other like this!”

Tears were forming in Umi’s eyes, she was really hurting inside, there were no two sides to it. She’s losing everyone she cares about, there’s no reason she wouldn’t hurt this way.

“Don’t worry Umi, don’t let their losses be in vain, we have to push through and-”

“Push through and what? Wait for someone else to betray our trust like this? There’s nothing we can do! We’re all stuck here until someone kills someone and dies for it, it’s all a cycle of death and betrayal, you’re blindly optimistic and a fool!”

“Hey! Don’t yell at Chika like that! She’s trying to cheer you up! You may be pessimistic like this but we have hope! Hope that we can stick together! Hope that if we just wait it out there won’t be anything he can do!”

“That’s exactly it, your hope won’t do anything, your faith is going to get you killed! There’s no trust here, look at where Kanan’s trust got her!”

Umi got up and stormed out of the room. Riko called after her. “That’s too far Umi! Kanan’s trust is the reason she’s so lovable!”

I was in shock. What Umi had said, how could she say that? First Maki, then Nico, now Umi, what’s wrong with them? Why have they been so rude?

“Ch-Chika, are you okay? Did Umi-”

“No, it’s fine, I can’t blame her. She’s going through a lot, let’s just leave her alone, ok?”

“Y-yeah, ok.”

I’m not sure if Riko really listened to me but it really isn’t Umi’s fault she was so upset. In her situation, wouldn’t anyone be? I just hope she winds up ok, I don’t want her to do anything irrational.

“Well, maybe we should go look around a bit? Maybe we could join Ruby, Dia and Maru?”

“I’m not sure they want to be disturbed right now, they probably just want to relax and have a day to themselves, maybe we should stay out of that part of the Hotel just to give them space.”

“I guess you’re right, we could try to talk to Nico?”

“Yeah but I’m not sure if she’s in the mood for that kind of thing.”

“Hmm, well we should do something Chika, there has to be someone we could talk to to pass the time.”

“I’ve noticed there’s not much of anything to do here, is there? It’s a lot of the same over and over, we just talk and talk and then someone dies and nothing worthwhile ever happens during the days between trials.”

“What are you talking about Chika? Of course there’s a lot happening! We were just talking about the hope and trust we can form during this time!”

“Y-yeah but, if so many of the people here are against that, Nico, Maki, Umi, they don’t want that trust, it’s almost like they want these killings to continue!”

“I don’t think they could-”

“Oh? Did you figure something out?”

Maki was in the doorway, she must have heard what I was saying.

“Uh, M-Maki, I uh-”

“Come now, do you think I want the strain of all this, all these autopsies, it gets tiring on my part, I’ve been working almost non-stop, but there’s nothing we can do to stop it. No matter what we try there will always be someone who will kill someone else for whatever motive Monokuma creates. Trying to create total trust among everyone is foolish. Naive. The only option is to live and figure out who decided that it was worth the risk to commit the next murder.”

“Yeah but-”

“Listen, there’s something I feel like telling you.”

“H-huh?”

“No one else can hear about it, I need you to come to the Baths alone. If you don’t feel safe you can ask Rin to come with you, however if you do I won’t be able to tell you as much. It’s pretty important so don’t skip out on it.”

“Wait what? When?”

“I’ll stick around there all day, come whenever you feel like it. But if you don’t come today then you’ve missed your chance.”   
Maki left and I was slightly confused. What could she have figured out? Why couldn’t anyone other than myself come? And why was Rin the person she told me was the only choice for another person to bring?

“I-I don’t know what that was about, you can’t really be thinking about going alone, right?”

“I-I think I have to, if she knows something then I have to find out what that is.”

“Y-yeah but, going anywhere alone is a bad-”

“No, we have to have faith!”

“Well, at least you’re back to having faith in everyone but I just hope it isn’t misplaced.”

“Well, I guess I should go then.”

“Wait, you have all day! Think it over first, don’t just rush in head first!”

“I guess you’re right, we could probably go talk to someone else first.”

“Come on, let’s go eat something, I’m sure you could use it.”

“I guess.”

Riko and I walked to the Cafeteria. I just couldn’t stop thinking about Mkai, what could she possibly have to say?

“Oh! Hey there Chika! Riko!”   
“Oh, hey Rin! Chika’s kinda in a slump right now, I thought food would help her out.”

“Good idea! Food is always great, I could make her something!”

“N-no! After what Hanayo said about you turning cookies into ramen I think I’ll pass, hehe…”   
“What did Rin really do something like that?”

“That was one time! Come on!”

“Well hey, maybe you could make ramen while actually trying to?”

Rin’s face glowed when Riko said that, I don’t think it would be possible to get her not to make ramen at this point.

“Ok! You sit right there Chika, I’m gonna go make some of the sickest ramen you’ll ever eat!”

Rin ran into the Kitchen and Riko took me over to a table near the Kitchen’s door. If I had to guess she sat there so Rin wouldn’t have to walk as far when she finished.

As we sat waiting for Rin I could smell everything being made, the broth, the noodles, it smelt so good, it did some good to help raise my spirits and distract me from what Maki was saying.

“Hey Chika! I’m done and I think someone left a note for you.”

“Huh? Oh hi You! What do you mean a note?”

“This piece of paper was on the floor just outside the door, it’s folded and says ‘For Chika Takami’s eyes only.’ I guess they only want you to read it.”

“I guess so, give it to me then.”

“Yeah, here.”   
I unfolded it and read what it said. It was only three cryptic words, three words that scared me at the sight of them.

_ Beware of Maki _

What in the world did it mean? What was going on? Who was it from? I can’t tell from the handwriting, but it’s sloppy, they probably used their nondominant hand.

“Ch-Chika? What’s wrong? What does it say?”

“N-Nothing! I-I don’t think it’d be the best idea to say, you know?”

“O-Ok, well if you ever need to talk to anyone we’re here for you.”

“Of course! By the way, what did Yoshiko do with you?”

“She had to use my blood to draw a circle, she just had me cut my finger a little and draw a few lines, nothing big.”

You held up her right hand and she had a bandage around her index finger.

“Well, as long as you’re ok it’s fine, do you know what the circle did?”   
“She said it was a protective charm, not sure what exactly to think though, she said the one she had before was the best one to use. But from what I can tell this does the same thing, it’ll keep us all from being murdered, I don’t get it.”

“Hey! It’s ready! Oh, another person! You’s here too! It’s like a ramen party!”

“Huh? What’s going on here?”

“Chika was in a bit of a slump before so I decided to bring her to eat something. Rin said she’d make ramen for us and I decided we could sit by the Kitchen so the aromatherapy could help Chika out.”

“Oh! That’s really smart, I knew I liked ya Riko!”

“Y-yeah, hey Rin, do you think you could come to the Baths with me after this?”

“Hm? What for? If we’re taking a bath can I bring Kayo-chin?”

“N-no, that’s not why I need you to come.”

“Oh, I see, it’s for that, well yeah, I’ll come, just us I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, Maki’ll be there too.”

“Wait hold up, I’m confused, someone explain what’s going on.”

“Maki wants to tell Chika something, that’s all there really is to say You.”

“Huh, ok, I still don’t get it but I’m guessing Maki doesn’t want the two of us there for some reason, stay safe, ok?”

“Of course, I’ll be there after all! No one will lay even a finger on her as long as I’m there!”

“Hehe, thanks Rin, you seem kind of out there but you’re really trustworthy!”

“I know right? Praise me more! Pet me!”

“H-huh? O-ok…”   
Riko put her hand out and patted Rin’s head.

“You’re uh, really cute, and your ramen smells really good!”

“Ah right! The ramen! We have to eat it before it sits for too long, come on, dig in!”

Rin handed each of us a fork but no bowl.

“Uh, I think you forgot the bow-”

“Nope! Just dig right in! Trust me, it’s good for the heart!”

“O-ok… I don’t see how ramen can be good for your heart’s health-”

“No, not that heart, the ‘I love you’ kind of heart! Kayo-chin and I do this all the time! Just share one big bowl together and it’s like you’re sharing a part of yourself! At least that’s what Nozomi said it’s like.”

“Heheh, I’m not surprised Nozomi said that, I was a bit impressed for a second with how you were talking.”

“Aww, so you’re not impressed anymore Riko?”

“N-no! It’s still impressive you’ve taken something like that to heart!”

“Yay! You praised me again!”

Rin smiled and watched as You, Riko, and I ate her ramen. When we finished I pretty much entirely recovered from the mood I was in earlier. Rin may not even realise it herself but she’s really good at raising the spirits of those around her, I’m happy Hanayo has someone like her, she deserves her.

“So, You said we had to go to the Baths, right?”

“H-huh? Oh right, I forgot about that, I guess it’s pretty important though, let’s go!”

Rin and I got up from the table and You and Riko cleaned up the Kitchen, I felt bad that they had to do that alone but I had to know what Maki had found out, and I needed Rin with me, after seeing that note I couldn’t come without Rin, it wasn’t an option.

The two of us turned into the Baths and Maki was alone, as she said she would be.

“You came sooner than I expected honestly, well, guess I’ll just tell you straight.”

“But you’re not str-”

“Ok I’m already questioning why I told you to bring Rin.”

“Well what is it?”

“There’s a mole.”

“What? Where? Moles are cute with their wiggly little faces!”

“Not that kind of mole, a mole as in someone who works with the enemy, I don’t know who they are, all I know is they have to be a member of Aqours.”

“W-wait what? How can you just accuse us of having someone like that? You’re saying someone in Aqours is working with Monokuma?”

“Exactly.”

“Where’s your proof? Where did you find out about this?”

“Listen, when I die my room will be unlocked, all the information will be there, The reason I told you to bring Rin is because I know there’s no way she would kill me, now way she would tell anyone else about this, and she can’t be the mole.”

“So you’re saying that someone in Aqours is working for Monokuma to promote the killings and keep this entire mess going?”

“Exactly, someone in Aqours wants people to die, that’s all there is to it.”

I can’t believe it, I won’t believe it, after that message I can’t believe it. There’s no way what Maki is saying is true.

“Ok, and so what? What does it matter even if there is a mole? Obviously any mole wouldn’t be able to kill since that would be getting rid of Monokuma’s only way to directly influence us!”

“Hmph, so I guess it’s true… You really are as much of an idiot as Honoka.”

“Hey, Maki, that’s enough! There’s no reason to bully Chika like this, she’s right here, you’re being unreasonable! Monokuma’s mole can’t possibly be anything more than a tool for observation! And if anything she’s most likely being blackmailed! I can’t possibly believe any of the people in this building could want people dead!”

“Yeah well you know what? That’s it, I’m-”

“She’s right you’re being an idiot Maki.”

Nico came out from one of the shower stalls and Maki was taken aback by her appearance.

“You think I wouldn’t notice that you wanted to do something? Come on Maki, you’re better than this!”

“Please, it’s not like you’re in a better boat!”

“Hey, Chika, I’m not sure if we should stay or not…”

“No, we need to stay, we can’t let Maki keep running around getting her way with everyone, Maki, you need to realize that your guess isn’t always right! You’re just as likely to be wrong as the rest of us!”

“I-I”

“She’s right Maki. Come on, you don’t need to push yourself like this, and you certainly shouldn’t push everyone else like this!”

“But we-”

“Maki stop, even if we need order, a tyranny isn’t order, you can’t really think your plan would work!”

“F-fine, you’re right, this is stupid, I’ll leave the next trial to the rest of you then, I’m sitting out of all of this for a while.”

“W-wait what? Are you saying-”

“Yeah, you’re on your own, next time someone dies I’m not saying a word, also I’m abolishing our morning meetings, feel free to tell everyone but we don’t have to meet together in the mornings anymore.”

“O-ok, are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I have to do something to sever my position as leader here, We should be equal, you’re right Chika, I can’t be bossing you all around, I’m sorry.”

Maki’s sudden change in attitude was surprising, she was acting almost docile.

“Well, now that that’s settled, see you.”

“Wait, Nico, what was up with you this morning, why were you acting so differently from then to now?”

“Hmph, I thought you were a μ’s stalker.”

That was all she said before she left, what does she mean? Am I supposed to know why she’s acting up like this?

“Don’t let it get to you Chika, what Nico’s talking about, I doubt most people other than those Nico trusts the most even realize.”

Now Maki left as well, what was going on with these two? What was going on with anyone? It’s all so confusing, I don’t know what anything is at this point, am I going to be ready to figure out the next killing on my own if I can’t even figure out what anything being said in this conversation means?

“H-Hey, Chika, if you want to know what Nico meant I can-”

“No Rin, it’s fine, this is something I need to figure out myself, thanks for the offer.”

I walked away, leaving Rin in the Baths and went back to my room. I decided to lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling for a while and eventually I must have fallen asleep.

I was woken up by a knock on my door and looked at my clock, it was still only 8:15, I had only slept for a few hours. I got up and went to the door to see the last person I expected.

“H-Hey, is anyone else here?”

“N-no, you can come in Umi, what’s up?”

“I-I just, I wanted to say I’m sorry. For this morning after the motive. I shouldn’t have said what I had and I’m sorry for that, I just don’t want you to hold a grudge or think I have an issue with you.”

“No! Not at all! It’s fine, really!”

“You know, I wasn’t kidding when I said you remind me of Honoka, although I had said the wrong reason. You’re really sweet and care about those around you, thanks for being such a kind person.”

“I-I, I don’t know what to say, thanks Umi, your apology is definitely accepted!”

“O-ok, well, I’m going to go now, good night.”

“Y-yeah, good night Umi.”

Umi turned around and walked back down the hall to her room. As she left Dia, Ruby, and Maru came into the hall.

“Hey Chika, what are you doing peeking out of your room like that?”

“Huh? Oh, I was just talking to Umi.”

“About what?”

“Nothing really, just apologizing about something.”

“Huh, ok, I won’t pry, maybe you should take a day like the three of us had today, it does wonders for stress to just relax like that.”

“I can imagine, but I don’t think I could realistically sit still for that long, hehe…”

“Yeah I guess not, you’re really jumpy.”

“Yeah… Oh by the way Maki said we’re not meeting in the mornings anymore.”

“Really? Maki said that?”

“Yeah, so you don’t need to go to the Cafeteria if you don’t want to.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m thinking of going to sleep early, today, Ruby, Dia, do you wanna come sleep with me again zura?”

“Yeah sure, I doubt Ruby has a problem with that.”

“Yeah, it’s ok…”

“Well, good night Chika.”

“Good night you three.”

When the three of them went into Maru’s room I decided to leave my own room to find both Riko and You.

I ended up wandering my way to the Pool and saw You asleep in Riko’s lap on a pair of pool chairs. You was in her bathing suit and still seemed to be wet. Riko was playing with her hair and hadn’t noticed me come in. I walked up and sat next to Riko, resting my head on her shoulder.

“Hey Chika, maybe you shouldn’t go to sleep here, it’s almost nighttime.”

“I don’t care, nighttime doesn’t mean anything, let’s just stay here tonight, it’s peaceful.”

“Yeah, you’re right, we should just go to sleep here, ignore all of this, as long as we’re together it doesn’t matter...”

I shut my eyes and let myself drift to sleep on the chair with Riko and You, it was peaceful, there’s no reason we should have to listen to what Monokuma says if it’s not a rule, I’m sure this is fine. It’s not like there’s anything Monokuma can do since there’s no official rule against this.

 

“HEY YOU THREE, YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO SLEEP OUTSIDE OF YOUR BEDROOMS!”

You snapped awake and fell off her chair and Monokuma was suddenly in front of us, holding a megaphone which he had just used to nearly blow out our eardrums.

“W-What’s going on who’s dead is everyone ok where am I-”

“Everything’s ok You, no one is dead.”

“What?”

“I said no one is dead, we’re ok, Monokuma just got a bit excessive there.”

“I thought after the last trial you all would have realized that sleeping outside the bedrooms isn’t allowed!”

“What do you-”

“Hanamaru was kicked out of the Library already and it was mentioned in front of everyone! How can you be so thick, honestly, kids these days just get on my nerves.”

“Alright well we can go back to my room, come on.”

“You know, why are you all sleeping in Chika’s room?”

“What do you mean? We just-”

“Why not sleep in Riko’s? Or You’s? Why did you pick Chika’s?”

“Well it’s closest to the door to that hall so-”

“Yeah that makes sense, I guess. Well go on, get out of my face.”

Monokuma walked off behind a towel rack and disappeared. You, Riko, and I walked back to my room and I looked at the clock, it was 10:34, we must have missed the nighttime announcement. The three of us hardly got into my bed before we were out like rocks.

That next morning I was woken by something I had forgotten about. You shook me awake and had her finger to her lips. I suddenly remembered the plans to make Riko breakfast and nodded in silent acknowledgement. The two of us slipped out of my room and to the Commons Area. The same rooms had the same occupancy as the previous night except for one difference, Yoshiko’s was occupied now. She must not have been able to join the other three in Maru’s room since they went to bed early.

You and I moved the couch that was hiding everything we had brought and I looked at the food we had for the first time.

There were eggs, bread, cheese, various types of meat, and water.

“Ok so here’s the plan, hard-boiled eggs and sandwiches, Riko’s two favourite foods.”

“Correct, she does like those.”

“Ok so pour the water in a pot and put it on that portable stove on the table there, hopefully we can finish before everyone else wakes up.”

“Yeah, I didn’t check the time but I can guess it’s not long before 6?”

“Yeah, I got up at 5:40 so we don’t have a lot of time, hopefully the eggs are done before then.”

“Well, the eggs are started so I’ll help you with the sandwiches, how much bread did you bring?”   
“Enough for each of us to have 4 halves of sandwiches.”

“So two sandwiches?”

“Yeah but half sandwiches are cuter, I’m sure Riko will like them more!”

You and I made the sandwiches and when we finished we heard the same tone we heard every morning.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

“Well, let’s go get Riko, the eggs should be ready, right?”

“Yeah, I think so, there wasn’t an egg timer in the Kitchen from what I could tell so we just have to hope it’s been long enough. Turn the burner off and we can go bring Riko for her breakfast!”

I did what You said and we went back to my room. When we walked in Riko suddenly turned to us with tears in her eyes.

“W-whoa what’s wrong Riko, why are you crying?”

“Where were you? I thought something happened, you weren’t here when I woke up! Do you know how terrified I was?”

“Uh, um, we… we’re sorry, we didn’t think about that, but come on, there’s something we wanna show you!”

“W-what is it?”

“Come on, you’ll see! We were going to do it yesterday but we ran into… an issue.”

“O-ok, I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean but I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“Well come on, we haven’t got all day! Well no, we do, but hey, figure of speech you know?”

You grabbed Riko’s hand and pulled her to the Commons Area, I followed behind them and shut the door to my room.

“Ta-dah! We made you a breakfast to thank you for what you’ve done to help!”

“Eggs and sandwiches? You just wanted to make my favourite foods without it being a weird meal, didn’t you?”

“Ehehe, yeah, but hey, we tried!”

“Yeah, thank you both! So let’s eat!”

“Yeah!”

The three of us sat in the Commons Area and ate what we had made for Riko, the eggs luckily boiled enough not to make a mess, although they weren’t perfect.

“Thanks you two, you may have terrified me but I guess this makes up for it.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, we really didn’t think about that or how worried you would be! Really, we’re sorry.”

“Yeah, I feel bad about that, we’ll figure out someway to make it up to you again!”

“Heheh, you don’t have to do anything, I’m happy with this!”

“No, we’ve gotta make you feel more appreciated here! I’m sure one of your paintings will be important eventually!”

“Hmm, they haven’t felt too useful so far, if anything I feel like they’re just an annoyance. No one wants to look at them, they’re the corpses of our friends, that’s not something we should be forced to look at! Imagine how Dia must feel, walking out of her room and seeing Eli’s painting, it must be awful for her, I should take them down. We, we could put them in here, so we’re only forced to look at them when we want to, so we aren’t forced to see the corpses of everyone we care about! Umi too, oh no she must hate me for those paintings, come on, let’s move them right now, I don’t want to hurt everyone like this anymore!”

“I-it’s ok, we’ll help you move them, you don’t have to do this alone. You don’t have to do anything alone with us here!”

“O-ok, thank you both, I just don’t want anyone to hate me even though they probably already do…”

“No one hates you, if they do I will personally fight them!”

“P-please don’t fight anyone for me, that’s not a very good idea Chika.”

“Alright well I’ll shout angrily at them!”

“Heheh, ok, thanks Chika.”

“Alright so let’s get these paintings moved to calm your nerves.”

“Y-yeah, that would be nice.”

The three of us moved the paintings into the Commons Area and since there was nowhere to put them on the wall and Riko didn’t have a drill at that point, we just placed them against the wall on the floor.

We decided to place them in the order that the girls had died, placing Honoka’s on the left, followed by Kotori, Kanan, and then Eli.

Who would be next? It was hard to guess, but the best case scenario would be that we never lost anyone again. Yoshiko said she had a charm to protect us so hopefully we really would be safe.

When we finished moving the paintings we started cleaning up from our breakfast. 

“So, now that that’s cleaned up I say we go talk to some other people.”

“Hm? What do you mean You?”

“Well doesn’t it make sense? All three of us have to be close to everyone else!”

“So what, you’re saying we should separate from each other and befriend everyone else?”

“Y-yeah, if we aren’t friendly with everyone else then someone could randomly kill one of us three, but if everyone likes us no one will want to kill us and the three of us can survive!”

“That’s a really good plan You! I like it!”

“Hehehe, praise me more Chika! I like it.”

“Of course you do, you love me so much after all!”

“Well I like when Riko praises me too, she’s so quiet with her thoughts that when she says something she must really feel that way!”

“H-hey, let’s just go talk to everyone then, you’re embarrassing me…”

“Heheh, that’s the point! But yeah, let’s go raise our chances of surviving by making sure nobody hates us!”

With that You left the Commons Area and a short while after Riko left as well. I waited after Riko left and went to go talk to someone myself.

As I walked into the hall I saw Nico come out of her room.

“H-hey Nico! How are you today?”

“Hm? Oh hey there Chika, I’m fine, don’t worry about yesterday, I’ll try to keep myself in check. Don’t worry about me.”

“Hmm… Ok, well still, if you ever feel like you’re about to get set off like that just try to walk away from anyone if you can.”

Nico sighed. “It’s really not that easy but I’m sure you’re not exactly a trained therapist. I feel like I can handle myself, I won’t do anything reckless, don’t worry.”

“Ok, if you say so, I just don’t want you to manage to hurt yourself is all, you’re really good at making everyone smile even when things are rough. I guess your name really is fitting!”

“Hehe, thanks Chika, I try my best. If you want I could give you a solo performance sometime!”

“Ok, I may just take you up on that! Not now though, I’m trying to talk to as many people as possible, if everyone likes me then nobody will want to kill me, doesn’t that make sense?”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense, you may not look like it but you can be pretty smart sometimes. I’m happy to have you here.”

“O-oh, well um. I don’t know what to say, that’s really kind of you! I’ll try my best to keep everyone happy so I want you to try to do the same!”

“Of course! I am Nico after all! The world’s number one idol!”

The two of us said our goodbyes and Nico walked off down the hall with a bit of a hop in her stride. It was nice that I was able to at least make one other resident happier today, but I should probably try to talk to someone else, the more people I can talk to the better.

I walked down the hall glancing into each of the rooms as I walked by, and when I came to the Medicine Room I saw someone different from who I had come to expect.

“Yo, Chika, what’s up?”

“Yoshiko? What are you doing in here? I was expecting Maki if I may be honest.”

“Heh, well of course I’d be here, I need to know what we have so I’ll know what I can get away with, it’s important to know how much blood I can safely draw or how strong the painkillers here are.”

“I’m uh, not sure if that’s really healthy, maybe you shouldn’t push your body like that. You should probably try to leave your blood inside your body.”

“Haha! I’ll be fine, there’s nothing wrong with me at-”

As Yoshiko was talking she started to fall forward and passed out, I caught her before she hit the ground but I had no idea what was going on. Why would she just pass out like that? There has to be something wrong here!”

“H-Hey! Can anyone hear me? Yoshiko just passed out in here!”

After a moment I heard movement in the hall and Maru came into the Medicine Room.

“Wh-what, What happened?!”

“I don’t know! She just passed out, go try and find Maki! I’m sure she’ll be able to help more!”

“O-ok! I’ll go look for someone else who can help!”

Maru ran out of the room and down the hall, her footsteps faded out and I tried to move Yoshiko onto one of the beds. As I set her down Nico came in and saw me with Yoshiko.

“What’s going on? Hanamaru said to come in here and that she was looking for Maki?”

“Yoshiko, she just, passed out, I don’t know what’s happening with her!”

“Shit, dammit! Ok I’m gonna go see if I can find Maki, she’ll be better able to handle this.”

As Nico turned I heard footsteps in the hall outside, did Maru find Maki?

Maru burst into the room, out of breath.

“Sh-she, she said she… She said she’s not gonna come, sh-she said we can figure out whatever’s wrong on our own, what’s up with her?”

“Dammit! She said she’d stay holed up for a while but this is damn near negligence! Well, let’s just pray I can figure this out, I’ve worked with her a bit, hopefully it’s something simple.”

Nico started rushing around the room, pulling out various things, a thermometer, a needle, and a few glass vials, among other things.

“Move back, I’m not nearly as good as Maki but if she’s gonna be this stubborn I’m all we’ve got.”   
I moved out of Nico’s way and she stuck the thermometer in Yoshiko’s mouth and pulled her sleeve up her arm. She attached one of the glass vials to a tube coming out of the needle and stuck it in Yoshiko’s arm, blood started to flow through the tube and the thermometer started to beep.

“Damn, normal, okay so no fever, this could be bad.”   
Once the vial was full Nico pulled out the needle and put a bandage over the hole. She took the vial and put it into a machine in the corner of the room.

“Alright well now we wait for the blood to be checked out, there’s really only one good thing that this could be that I can think of, otherwise we’re screwed without Maki.”

The three of us sat around and Yoshiko was clearly still breathing steadily, which was good. Eventually a light on the machine Nico had inserted the vial of blood into turned on and she walked over to look at the small screen on the side of it.

“Damn, alright, so there’s nothing to worry about.”   
“Wh-why? What’s wrong with her zura?”

“It’s just an iron deficiency, she must’ve lost a lot of blood or something, but how would that happen?”

“W-well, before she passed out she said something about seeing how much blood loss she could handle and how strong the pain killers here are, do you think-”

“What, so you think she was using her own blood for her whole ‘Fallen Angel’ schtick?”

“I-I don’t know, maybe, but how do we get more iron in her? Do we just feed her rocks?”

“Ok I’m almost ready to take back what I said earlier about you being pretty smart sometimes, we just need to feed her something with a lot of iron in it, Hanamaru, do you think you could handle that?”

“Y-yeah! I can do that, what should I feed her zura?”   
“Well since she’s unconscious it’d be best to go with something she won’t have to chew much, I guess tofu maybe?”

“A-alright, I can do that.”   
Maru ran out of the Medicine Room, probably to go to the Kitchen.

“Damn, seriously though the hell is wrong with Maki? Hanamaru seems the type to start with the important details, why would she just ignore something like this?”

“Who knows… Maybe you should go talk to her? This seems like a pretty big thing for her to just let go by.”

“If she’s in her room I doubt I can get her to unlock the door in this state, well either way since it’s just iron, Yoshiko should be moving again by the end of the day, I doubt she’ll have to stay here overnight.”

“Well that’s good, I feel like enough people have spent their nights here, we don’t need to deal with more of this room.”   
“I agree with you there, the less time spent here the better, I’ll look for iron capsules to have Hanamaru give to Yoshiko when she wakes up, you can go do your own thing now, this should all be settled now.”

“O-ok, if you say so, I’ll leave her to you then.”   
I left the Medicine Room as Nico started shuffling around in the cabinet for iron capsules. Maru walked past me in the hall, her arms full of tofu, and entered the Medicine Room.

I went towards the courtyard and saw a somewhat strange group, consisting of Umi, Nozomi, and Ruby.

“I’m just sayin’, there’s no way I can do that, fortunes are handy and all but you can’t just make them be whatever you want ‘em to be.”

“Hmm… Ok… Sorry to bother you then Nozomi…”

“Don’t worry Ruby, I’m sure your sister will be okay, she has a strong mind. I don’t think anyone could easily break her.”

“Th-thanks Umi… I’m just scared, I don’t want sis to get hurt…”

“That’s perfectly understandable Ruby, it’s only reasonable for you to be scared for her, you’re a really sweet girl. I’m sure Dia’s proud of you.”

“R-Really? Thanks Umi!”

“What’s up you three? What are you all talking about?”   
“Huh? Oh hey Chika! Ruby and Umi just came up to me while I was looking at all the flowers and asked if I could tell if Dia would survive, but honestly it’d be easier for me to tell you the name of the Prime Minister in a thousand years, life’s just one o’ those hard things to pinpoint.”

“Well you were able to tell that Kanan and Eli were going to die.”

“That’s just because I was doing luck fortunes, Eli’s came up unlucky ‘cuz she got found out, it said she’d get ‘exposed for her crime’ so it was easy to decipher. As for Kanan, that was your fortune, it said ‘a terrible fate will befall the person who this person sleeps with’ so that was just as easy to figure, but I can do a luck fortune on Dia if you want. It’s just that it’s unlikely to tell us anything about her survival.”   
“W-wait so there is something you can do? Please! Do it! I need to know!”

“Well, since you’re such a cutie I guess I can do it for you!”

“P-please! even if it isn’t much, I need to know!”

“Ok, but just so you know, you can’t tell Dia what her fortune ends up being, okay? It’s bad luck to tell people what the future holds for them.”

“Ok! I understand, I trust you Nozomi, I trust you!”

“Fufu~ I’m lucky to have a cutie like you here, well, stand back for a minute while a do the reading.”

Nozomi took her deck of cards from her pocket and began to shuffle and mix them up dozens of times, over and over. After she finished shuffling she turned away from us, looking down the Courtyard, and fanned the cards out in one hand before flinging them, seemingly as hard as she could, down the path.

“Okay Ruby, so pick up the cards and put them in a pile for me~”

“H-huh? O-ok… I don’t really get this.”

It was neat, being able to see Nozomi reading a fortune right in front of me. Her methods didn’t seem very traditional but if she was able to find out about what would happen to Eli and Kanan before they happened then it must work.

“Ok, so Ruby, now I just need you to do one more thing.”

“What is it? Tell me! I need to know if sis’s fortune is lucky or not!”

“What I need you to do… Is get me a picture of your sister without a shirt on.”

“Wait ok, Ruby, ignore that, Nozomi stop messing with her, you know she would probably actually do that, that’s indecent!”

“W-wait, do I need the picture or not? I’m confused…”

“You don’t need the picture, Nozomi’s just being herself. Tell her what you really need her to do, Nozomi.”

“Fine, fine~ I just thought that Dia had a pretty good bod back when we were at the pool together. I’d like to have a picture of that for, spiritual reasons.”

“The only thing spiritual in this question is you if you don’t cut this out, Nozomi, now just read the fortune already.”

“Ok, ok, Ruby, I need you to take the top three cards off the deck, put them in whatever order you want without looking, and place them side by side.”

“O-ok, got it.”

Ruby did as Nozomi said and placed the three cards on the inner path, where we were stood.

“Ok, are you sure with those placements?”

“Y-yes, I’m happy with them where they are.”

“Ok, well here goes.”

Nozomi took all three cards in one movement and fanned them in her hand.

“Well well~ Looks like she has a lucky fortune after all!”

“R-really? That’s really nice to hear! Thank you Nozomi!”

“Fufu~ the pleasure is mine to help such a cutie pie, but there’s more to the fortune than that.”

“W-what? Tell me! please!”

“Well, it says ‘She will succeed in saving the life of the person most dear to her.”

“Hm, are you sure that’s it Nozomi? There’s nothing else in the fortune?”

“Yup, that’s all I’ve got, and hey, you can tell some pretty uplifting things from this, can’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well if she saves the person dearest to her, doesn’t that mean she’ll have to get out of here? Unless that person is in here of course.”

“Th-thank you Nozomi! That’s a really reassuring fortune!”

“Fufu~ Well if you really wanted to thank me you could get that picture~”

“Nozomi! Stop it!”

“Fine, fine. No thanks necessary, ‘k Ruby?”

“O-ok… Really, thank you! I’ll see you later.”

Ruby ran off, a smile on her face. It was cute, I’m happy for her.

“Hmm, you’re thinking the same as me, aren’t you, Umi?”

“Yeah… Your fortunes have a reputation of being… Misleading.”

“Hm… I wonder what this one could mean… She could postpone someone’s death by just a few seconds, or maybe she could kill someone who planned to kill the person they care about, or there could be a hostage situation. Honestly a fortune like that, one that seems so straight and narrow, they’re always the worst, they’re always the ones that you hate to see come true…” 

“Hm, well hey, see you around I guess, I’m going to go see how some of the other girls are.”

“Ok, see you later Umi! By the way, don’t forget your own promise to me!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know Nozomi, no need to remind me.”

Umi walked off around the corner and down the hall. Nozomi started to walk off herself and I called out to her.

“Hey, what do you mean a promise with Umi?”

“Hm, let’s just call it an insurance policy. I scratch her back she scratches mine, and we’ll leave it at that.”

Nozomi was about to exit the courtyard but stopped right before the entrance. She slipped to the side and hid behind the wall, almost like she was hiding.

As I watched what she was doing, You came around the corner and saw me.

“Hey Chika! Who have you talked to today? I got to talk to Rin, Hanayo, and Mari!”

Nozomi moved from her spot against the wall and slipped up behind You, wrapping herself around her.

“Hm yes, quite good, as I’d expect from someone as muscular as you, You. You fill out well but still have room for growth, quite fine indeed.”

You reached down, grabbed Nozomi’s arm, and started to lean forward.

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO STOP DOING THAT MARI?”

You flipped Nozomi over her shoulder and slammed her back on the ground, luckily they were on the grass and not the pathway but it still must’ve hurt.

“Hey, c’mon, don’t mistake me for the American girl! My tastes are totally better!”

“Wh-what- Oh no I’m so sorry Nozomi, I thought you were Mari, I didn’t mean to do that, it’s a reflex, I-”

“Fufu~ Don’t worry about it You, I’m ok, hardly felt a thing!”

Nozomi stood up and tried to wipe the dirt off her back but she couldn’t really reach some parts so You helped her out.

“Still, I feel bad about that, sorry again.”

“Like I said, it’s no problem, I did grab you pretty suddenly after all.”   
“Ok, just don’t do it again, got it?”

“Yeah, you’re not exactly the safest person for that, but hey, you’re pretty strong, I can see why Chika and Riko love you~”

Nozomi left the Courtyard and You walked back up to me.

“So, anyways, who did you get to talk to?”

“Well I just saw Nozomi as you can tell, and before Ruby and Umi were here as well. Earlier I saw Yoshiko, Maru, and Nico, and I also talked to Nico right after I left the Commons Area.”

“Cool! Anything interesting happen?”

“Well, when I saw Yoshiko she passed out and Nico was able to figure out it was because she didn’t have enough iron in her blood, I didn’t know we had iron in us but I guess that’s neat!”

“Huh, well I hope Yohane’s ok…”

“Nico said she should be up and moving by the end of the day so I’m sure she’s alright.”

“Well that’s nice, as long as she’s alright I’m happy.”

“So what did you talk to Rin and Hanayo about?”

“Nothing really, just small talk but they’re both really sweet! Hanayo just wants everyone to not fight and Rin just really loves Hanayo. I’m happy they’re so nice. I hope nothing happens to them.”

As we were talking, Riko came into the Courtyard.

“Hey you two, what are you talking about?”

“Just who we got to talk to today! Who did you see, Riko?”

“I only got to talk to Nozomi and Dia… Everywhere I thought to go nobody seemed to be there… Maru wasn’t in the Library, nobody was in the stage, and Maki wouldn’t talk to me in her room…”   
“Hmm, well I only saw Mari, Rin, and Hanayo, but Chika saw Yoshiko, Nico, Maru, Nozomi, Ruby, and Umi…”

“So none of us talked to Maki, I wonder what’s wrong with her?”

“Y-yeah… I wonder what’s up?”

“Chika… You know something.”

“H-huh? What are you talking about?”

“No, You’s right, you’re a really obvious liar. Something happened when you met her in the Baths, I know it.”

What do I do? I can’t tell them about the conversation we had and Maki’s suspicion about there being a traitor in Aqours...

“W-well… Nico came in on us and told Maki off about her being an idiot and being mean to me for no reason at all, really it was nothing!”

“So Maki’s like this because she and Nico had a bit of a fight? I guess I can see that…”

“Well hey, it’s probably getting late, we should head back to my room soon.”

“Hm, I wonder what time it is, the closest clock is in the Stage, we could go-”

Riko was interrupted by a familiar bell followed by an announcement that had become part of our normal daily routine.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, the Cafeteria, Central hall, and Exercise rooms are now off limits.”

“Well I guess we know what time it is now.”   
“Yeah, let’s go then.”   
“Yup”

The three of us silently walked back toward the west hall. On the way we saw Maru come out of the Central hall once again before the shutter closed behind her.

“Hey Maru! Where’s Yoshiko? I thought she was supposed to be up and ready by the time nighttime came around?”

“Yeah, she’s been up and moving for a while, I’d guess she’s back in her room, I wasn’t in the Medicine room, I was in the library zura. Yoshiko woke up and I gave her the capsules like Nico told me to. Yoshiko said she wanted to do her own thing so she walked off.”

“Oh, ok, I think I get it, we really have a knack for running into each other here right after nighttime starts, don’t we?”

“Yeah, I guess we do zura.”

“Well, you want help with your books? It looks like you can hardly see over them.”

“I’m fine but you can take a few if you want.”   
All three of us took a few books off of Maru’s tower and the four of us walked back together. When we came to my room we placed the books back on Maru’s stack in the same order we took them off and Riko went ahead to open Maru’s door for her.

When Riko came back we went into my room and all of us changed into what we would sleep in and got into my bed.

I hadn’t realized it then but at the time we were happy. We had managed to be happy despite our situation. We were able to simply love each other without thinking about the threat of death, or the fact that those around us would die. It was almost unsettling.

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

I was woken up by the usual announcement and sat up to stretch.

I saw You already up and out of bed and Riko was just on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

“Alright, come on Riko, let’s go get dressed, I still hate that rule of Monokuma’s about not sharing clothes, it’s just so inconvenient…”

“I’ll agree with that, maybe we should just bring all our clothes in here.”

“You know, that’s probably a pretty good idea, we can do that later tonight I guess.”

You and Riko left and I got dressed. When I was done I walked out and saw the two of them waiting for me.

“So, you ready for another day of operation ‘Try to make sure nobody hates us so none of us die?’”

“Of course! So I wonder who we should talk to today?”   
“Well I call Chika.”   
Suddenly Nico was in the hall with us.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean there’s something I need to show you. Come on Chika.”

Nico grabbed my hand and dragged me off before I could protest and didn’t let go until we were already past the Baths.

“Can you walk and listen? I found something while I was looking at the different medicines in the cabinets of the Medicine Room, I’m not sure exactly what but it’s something I need you to-”

Nico had cut herself off. We were right beside the public bathrooms.

“Do you smell that?”

I tried to see if I could smell anything unusual.

“Hm, is that… rust?”

“N-no, that’s not rust, th-that… That’s iron… That… oh no..”

Nico turned a ghastly shade of pale and I realized what this must mean, we were just talking about it the previous day after all.

“D-Don’t tell me that-”

“It… This smell… it’s blood. Someone is in those bathrooms... Probably dead.”

“I-I… I’ll go first I guess…”

“No, I’ll go first, I... noticed first.”

“O-ok…”

Nico stepped into the bathrooms and shut her eyes before turning the corner around the wall that blocked us from seeing into it.

I could hear the air get sucked from her breath the second she opened her eyes. She stumbled back and bumped into the wall behind her. She started to mumble.

“You can’t be… No way… How did… Oh no…”

I decided that I had to see whatever it was that Nico had seen. Who was it? Was it Maki? Was it Nozomi? There was only one way to find out.

I walked forward and what I saw was the most horrifying sea of red I had seen yet. There was a body in the shower, stuck in the wall by the wrists and ankles. Blood seemed as if it had flowed like a river that has now run dry. There was a pool of blood in the shower deep enough that it would cover my ankles. This was so gruesome that I could feel the malice emanating from the corpse. And the corpse was someone I knew. Someone who my final meeting with seemed more one sided than I’d have liked my last time seeing someone to be. The body that was stuck on the wall was that of Yoshiko Tsushima.

I was so overwhelmed by this killing that I feel to my knees. The next thing my body recognized was a sound, it was Maru’s voice.

“Hey, Chika and Nico, what are you two looking-”

I snapped back to my senses when I realized what was about to happen.

“MARU DON’T-”

But I was too late. Maru had seen it, the pure terror on her face made my stomach spin. She slowly stepped back out the door before collapsing with her back to the wall opposite the bathroom.

“I-I… I-I-I…”

She was clearly overloaded, she didn’t even know how to perceive what was in there. I hardly knew how to process it myself. This killing was awful, how could one killing draw that much blood?

Then came the sound. The sound of death. The sound of pain. The sound of despair. The sound that signaled that it would soon be time for another hotel trial.

“Ding. Ding. Ding. Dong. A body has been discovered”

Someone had to go find the others. Tell them where the body was. I was about to get up to do it but then Nico stepped in front of me.

“I-I’ll go tell the others. You just… start investigating…”

She walked off and Maru looked liked she was about ready to pass out from shock. I helped her to lay down hoping it would help her, at least a little.

I went back into the bathrooms and was able to resist the shock this time, looking at the body more closely this time I could see what was holding the body onto the wall. They were three icepicks. The first two stabbed through either wrist and held Yoshiko up on the wall. The third pierced both ankles and traveled into the wall as well, holding her in place. Yoshiko was crucified. She was also wearing her black dress she typically wore when performing a ritual in her Yohane persona.

Now some of the other girls were coming in but some had stayed out, likely because they were told how awful it was.

The girls that had come in were Dia, Mari, You, Riko, Nico, and Nozomi.

“Hey, Chika, Maki really isn’t coming, it looks like she’s serious about leaving us on our own this time.”

“I figured… It’ll be hard but I’m sure we can figure out who did this.”

“Yeah… I’m more worried that we won’t have her autopsy honestly.”

“Well, you did some stuff in the Medicine Room in Maki’s place yesterday, do you think you could try to do the autopsy?”

“Tch, no way. I’m nowhere near qualified for that, I’m sure I’d mess up.”

“Hm, fair enough…”

“Well, I’m gonna go help out with the others in the hall, I just wanna describe it better for them so they know what to expect in the trial.”

Nico turned and left the bathroom. Suddenly I heard the 6 beeps from the Monobooks of all the girls left in the Bathroom. I guess the third Monokuma File is finally here.

I turned mine on and saw exactly what I had expected

 

**Monokuma Special Bulletin**

Monokuma File #3

The victim was Yoshiko Tsushima

The body was found in the Public Bathrooms.

Time of death: Approximately 5a.m.

The victim was impaled in both wrists and ankles.

She also had many stab wounds along her left side.

 

The last of these pieces of information confused me. There were stab wounds on her side? But her dress didn’t have any cuts and there wasn’t any blood on it. All the blood had slid down the wall from her wrists and pooled on the floor.

Dia was at the lip parting the shower from the rest of the bathroom and she was looking at Yoshiko’s body. She reached out and pulled her dress over her head, revealing something different from what I expected.

Her entire body was wrapped in layer after layer of bandages.

“W-well… should I take them off?”

“I guess so, it may help us if we look at all of her wounds.”

“Ok, well I should probably take her down from the wall then.”

Dia took her shoes and socks off and stepped into the pool of blood in the shower stall. She had to reach up to take the picks out of Yoshiko’s wrists and held her weight with her shoulder as she pulled out the one in the ankles. As she was doing this You had run down to the Pool to get a towel and she had laid it out for Dia to put the body on.

“She’s still warm, so at least we know the time of death is about right.”

Dia was clearly shaking. Her feet were covered in blood and she had just pulled a dead body off of a wall, of course she was. She walked into the other stall and turned it on to wash off her feet while Mari started to take off Yoshiko’s bandages.

“Hey You, come look at this.”

“Hm? What is it Mari?”

“Between the second and third layers, there’s a piece of paper. It says that she wants you to be the one to read it.”

“Ok well give it to me then.”

Mari handed the paper to You and she unfolded it.

I felt someone tap on my shoulder and when I turned I saw Riko.

“H-hey, so um, there’s something on the ground here.”

I looked down and she was right. In fact it looked familiar, it was the same dark circle I had seen when Maki had pulled me into here a few days prior. It was still very faint, but it was somewhat more noticeable than it had been when I saw it the first time.

“Huh, it’s black, I wonder what it is?”

“Well only one way to find out.”

Nozomi spoke up and walked up to the edge of the ring. She leaned down and ran her finger over it before sticking her finger into her mouth.

“Nozomi, that’s disgusting.”

“Well hey, at least we know what it is, Dia.”   
“Really? What is it?”

“It’s ash.”

“So you’re saying you just ate ash off a bathroom floor.”

“Yeah, guess so.”

“I feel like I’m about to hurl.”

“Oh come on Riko, it’s not the worst I’ve done.”   
“Seriously, Nozomi, just stop.”

“Oh, I thought you were like me? Are you turning on me Mari?”

“No, I just know when to cut the dirty jokes and be serious.”

“Fufu~ If you think I’m not serious then you’re sorely mistaken. And since you want to insult me like that then I won’t tell you the next thing I was about to say.”

“So now you’re withholding evidence. Got it.”

You came up to me and Riko while the two others were bickering and whispered so only the two of us could hear her.

“Hey, I want you two to come with me, I think it may be important for the investigation.”

“Does it have to do with that paper?”

“Yeah, it does.”

“Ok, we’re coming then.”

The two of us followed You out of the room and towards the west hall. She led us in front of Yoshiko’s room and I could see on the panel of the room across from hers a simple word. “Occupied.” Maki really was still in her room. Sure she said she wasn’t going to help with this case but it almost feels like this is going too far. She can’t just sit still and hide from everyone else forever.

“So what did the note say, You?”

“It said that there was another piece of paper in here that would explain something to me, I’m not sure what though.”

“Well we should probably just go in then.”

“Yeah, probably.”

You reached forward and opened the door. The three of us went in and it was clear what Yoshiko wanted us to see. There was a single piece of paper on the desk directly ahead of the entrance to the room and the chair was tilted to make it so we could easily see it.

“Well, I guess you should read it, You.”

“Y-yeah… I’ll do that.”

You picked up the paper and started reading aloud to us.

“Hey, You, hopefully you’re the person reading this. Otherwise writing this was probably a waste of time. But I wanted to let you know the answer to something you asked me about. The difference between this charm and the one that Chika stopped me from casting.”

“Is that, the one that was going to take a litre of your blood?”

“I should probably keep reading.”

“Y-yeah… Go on…”

“The first charm would’ve stopped anyone from dying, it would’ve applied to everyone but if you would have died then I couldn’t perform the ritual since it would have made me blackened. The second charm was similar to the first,” You was starting to choke on her words as she read, “however it couldn’t be applied to the caster, I could save everyone but myself. I know I’m going to die, it’s an inevitable fact, someone is going to kill me. I will be the third victim. I am well aware of this. I have no way of knowing how I will die so I can’t help you much with the trial. Sorry for being such a useless corpse despite leaving this note. I hope you can figure out who killed me! Good Luck!”

You looked about ready to cry, she must think that since her blood was used in Yoshiko’s ritual she’s the reason Yoshiko had to be the next to die… I can’t say I don’t understand how she feels, I felt the same about Kanan.

“S-so… That’s that… She died because of the charm… She knew she would die but cast it anyways, she basically condemned herself to death…”

“D-don’t take it too hard You, even if you helped with the charm, it’s not your fault.”

“Y-yeah… you’re right…”

“Come on, let’s go back and investigate the body”

“You two go ahead… I need some time alone…”

“Y-yeah! That’s fine! Take your time, I know how it feels to feel like you’re the reason someone died…”

Riko and I left You in Yoshiko’s room and went back to the central hall. Maru was still paralyzed on the floor and Rin was trying to comfort her.

“Hey, why don’t we check the rest of the hall before we head back to the Bathrooms? There could be clues.”

“Y-yeah, I guess you’re right…”

The two of us decided to start in the storage room since it seemed to be an obvious place for clues. Upon entering there was something that was pretty obviously one of them.

In the middle of the room was a small step stool, which was covered in blood about 5 centimeters up the side.

“Well… I think we found our clue!”

“Chika, what does this even mean?”

“Well there’s that pool of blood in the shower, that’s probably why it’s covered in blood, the killer didn’t want to leave footprints from getting their feet covered in blood since they would’ve shown us who the killer is.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

I looked around a bit more and saw a pile of candle boxes in the corner, stuffed behind one of the shelves.

“Well, there doesn’t seem to be much that’s any use to us here, let’s go check somewhere else out.”

“Yeah, let’s go see what else we can find”

I decided the next place to check would be the trash room on the off chance the incinerator was running but it wasn’t, it doesn’t seem like there was anything left burning after the killer left the hall.

“Well, I guess that was a waste.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Let’s go back to the Bathroom now Chika…”

“Yeah, we should go look at if Mari found anything after unwrapping all the bandages or if the others have figured out anything else.”

“Mhm, we need all the info we can get from this.”

The two of us went back to the Bathrooms and what we saw was Yoshiko’s body still on the towel and 5 stips of bandages beside it as well as Dia, Mari, and Umi, who turned to us as we walked in.

“Hey Chika, Riko. Mari finished taking the bandages off of Yoshiko, there were five stab marks so I guess that’s how many times Yoshiko was stabbed…”

“Well what are those holes on the bandages?”

One bandage was perfectly normal, hold the blood on it, one had two holes, the third had four, the fourth, six, and the fifth bandage had eight holes in it.

“We’re not sure, they’re in the same spots as the blood though, so we’re guessing the killer stabbed in those spots.”

“Huh, okay, what about the wounds?”

“Well they’re as you would expect, there’s five of them and her entire left side is covered in dried blood that came out of them. Looking at them it’s pretty obvious they’re from a knife”

“Well did you find anything else?”

This time, Dia was the one to speak up.

“Well I was thinking, why is there a pool of blood in the shower?”

“That’s a really dumb question, it’s from Yoshiko’s body.”

“Not where it’s from, why it’s there is what I’m curious about. Shouldn’t it have gone down the drain?”

“Maybe the blood is too thick?”

“No, I think there’s something clogging the drain.”

“That would make sense but what would even be there?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Dia then walked over to the edge of the shower and placed her hands into the blood.

“Based off the other shower… The drain is… Here!”

Dia pulled something out of the blood but since it was drenched we couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Suddenly the blood started to drain, albeit slowly, and eventually we could see the floor of the shower. Dia took the bloody object she had into the next shower over and used it to clean it.

“What is that… A rag? All that was there was a bloody rag?”

“Guess so. Well that wasn’t as incriminating as I’d hoped.”

Suddenly our search was interrupted by an alert on the monitor in the room by the entrance

“The investigation is now over, please report to the Commons Area for the third of many Hotel Trials!”

It was time, we weren’t allowed to search any longer, Monokuma is forcing us to come to the Commons Area now.

“Well, let’s do our best Chika, we can find the killer together and honour Yoshiko’s sacrifice.”

“Y-yeah, we can do it, we will do it, we’ll find who did this to her, I’m sure of it.”

Those of us that were still in the Bathrooms made our way down to the Commons Area and saw someone for the first time in a couple days.

Maki’s hair was a mess and her eyes had circles under them, she was hardly recognizable.

“Hey…”

She hardly even sounded the same.

“H-hey Maki, I’m surprised you even came.”

“Well, I can’t really get out of this one, feel free to act like I’m not there though.”

Suddenly Monokuma jumped up from nowhere onto his table at the front of the room.

“Hey there suckers! You ready for the soul-snatching, entity-entangling, heart-pumping trial of the fallen angel Yoshiko Tsushima? Well then let’s go!”

The entire room proceeded to shake which I had somehow gotten used to and when the doors opened the trial grounds stood before us once again. It was time. The trial to find the killer of Yoshiko, the trial that would cause the number of girls remaining to fall to twelve, just two thirds of the original number. It was the third trial in the Hotel of Despair.

 

**_TRIAL START_ **

 

Mari: What do we even start with?

The Weapon? The location?

Umi: Well why don’t we start with 

How Yoshiko was in the central hall in the first place?

Rin: Well the only way is the  **Medicine room** , right?

Chika: That’s right!

 

Ruby: W-What do you mean? Why was Yoshiko in the medicine room?

Hanamaru: She… She didn’t have enough iron in her blood zura. She passed out the day before she died because of it.

Nico: No, there’s no way that’s why she was there. She definitely should’ve recovered enough from Hanamaru feeding her that afternoon.

Chika: Well let’s leave that for now then, we know there has to be some reason she was in the Medicine room. But how about first we rule out different people who can’t possibly be the killer?

Hanayo: Well she died at 5 in the morning… That’s really early but before the end of Nighttime right? So Yoshiko and the killer must have been there all night.

Nico: Of course, that was obvious Pana…

Hanayo: A-Ah, S-sorry…

Rin: It’s ok Kayo-chin, you at least pointed it out to me!

Nico: That’s just because you’re an idiot too Rin.

Nozomi: Hey, Nico, cut it out, we should focus on the trial.

Nico: Yeah, yeah, do your thing.

Umi: Wait, so what were we talking about again?

Mari: We were going to rule out who can’t be the killer!

Umi: Ah, right, so basically just who couldn’t have been in the Central Hall with her?

Chika: Exactly! I can vouch for Maru, You, and Riko. The three of us were walking down the hall from the Courtyard when Maru came out of the Hall and the shutters came down behind her.

Dia: Ruby and I slept together as usual so we’re in the clear.

Nico: Anyone else have anyone they can vouch for with 100% certainty?

Riko: It’s not 100% but shouldn’t Maki be in the clear as well?

Maki: No.

Nico: Oh? You said an actual word, I can’t believe you broke your promise of doing nothing for this trial.

Riko: Wait, but what do you mean ‘No’? Are you trying to incriminate yourself?

Dia: So, are we saying Maki’s the killer? Would she admit to something just like that?

Riko: Come on Maki, just say something! Try to deny it!

Maki: …

Nico: And now it’s back to silence.

 

Maki: …

Riko: Come on Maki, there’s no way it’s you, right?

Dia: She’s  **not denying it.**

Nico: She’s really intent on staying silent here.

Riko: Come on Maki, just say something!

Nico: Come on now Maki, stop being so stupid.

Maki: …

Umi: Maki, why won’t you speak?

Rin: I’m  **not sure that she did it** .

Chika: I agree!

 

Rin: There’s no way Maki is the killer here!

Chika: Exactly, and it’s for one simple reason.

Nozomi: Well let’s hear it then.

Chika: Because, if Maki were the one to kill her this isn’t how she would do it.

Riko: What’s the supposed to mean, Chika?

Chika: If Maki were alone with Yoshiko she wouldn’t have taken the trouble of crucifying her! Maki’s the type to take the best path to an objective, if she wanted to kill someone she would try to make it so painfully obvious that it was her that we would assume it wasn’t her.

Riko: But isn’t that what’s happening here? You’re falling into the trap you just pointed out!

Chika: No, Maki was just calling you stupid.

Riko: What?

Chika: She’s saying that you said she couldn’t be the killer, but that’s a dumb thing to say. Think about it, did anyone see her in her room that night?

Mari: Nobody’s seen her in a few days, of course nobody saw her last night.

Chika: Thank you Mari, that’s right, she very easily could have gone in and had nobody see her. The simple fact is that there’s no reason it can’t be her and so she called Riko stupid. That’s all her ‘No’ meant.

Nozomi: Wouldn’t that mean this argument solved absolutely nothing? Maki is still a potential killer!

Chika: Sure it’s possible, but it’s not her, trust me on that.

{I have to learn from Maki, she taught me that sometimes just telling someone that someone isn’t the killer can get conversation back on topic. I have to use her strategies to make sure that nobody goes off topic, derails the conversation, and steers blame to the wrong person.}

Mari: So what do we talk about now?

Chika: Well how about we just talk about how we think the crime played out? We’ll probably find out something that way.

 

Nico: What’s the point in talking about the crime so early?

You: I say we trust Chika here, she seems on to something.

Rin: Well first, the killer and Yoshiko

Went  **into the Medicine room.**

Hanayo: Then they must have  **gone to the Bathrooms** .

Dia:  **That’s when the killer attacked.**

They  **stabbed Yoshiko’s side 5 times.**

Chika: No! That’s wrong!

 

Dia: What do you mean? How could that be wrong? Yoshiko had 5 stab wounds, they must have been from the killer!

Chika: No, there’s no way the killer did that, just look at the bandages Mari unwrapped.

You: I don’t get it, what’s special about them?”

Chika: Look at the number of holes on each one. The innermost had eight holes. The next had six, four, two, then zero. These holes were right in the same spots as all the blood.

Nico: Ok, but what does that tell us?

Chika: It tells us that there’s no way the killer made these holes! These holes were caused by the knife used to stab Yoshiko, each hole is identical so they must all be the same knife.

Dia: But then who caused them, if not the killer?

{Who stabbed Yoshiko each of those times? Only one person could have stabbed her in between each set of bandages.}

Chika: The person who stabbed Yoshiko… It was Yoshiko.

Nico: Chika, that’s stupid, why would Yoshiko stab herself.

Chika: Well, that brings us back to the first thing we talked about, what if I told you that the reason Yoshiko was in the Medicine room was because she stabbed herself?

Nico: She’d have to be hella clumsy to manage that five separate times.

Chika: But what if it wasn’t accidental? What if I told you she wanted to stab herself?

Dia: Hold it right there!

 

Dia: Are you saying Yoshiko was the one to stab herself? When? Why? There’s no reason for her to need to be in the Medicine room at night! And there’s no proof that she was the one to do it! The killer could have done those bandages themselves! Maybe they just stabbed her afterwards to confuse us with a wild goose chase! There’s no way for us to know when Yoshiko was stabbed in her side!

Chika: No! That’s wrong!

 

Dia: What do you mean? How do you know when Yoshiko was stabbed?

Chika: There was something else on Yoshiko’s body, wasn’t there? Her side was covered in dry blood.

Dia: And? It dried before we found her, what does that prove?

Chika: If Yoshiko died at 5 in the morning like the Monokuma File said, then there’s no way the blood could have dried before we found her if she was stabbed after she died!

Dia: Ah! That makes sense, but then when did she stab herself? And why?

Chika: I’m not sure if we have enough information established to say why other than to get into the Central Hall at night. But I can tell you when. She’s likely done it once a day for the past five days.

Nozomi: What makes you so confident that it’s been everyday? Couldn’t she have skipped?

Chika: I don’t think so. You, do you remember what happened involving Yoshiko five days ago?

You: Five days… Isn’t that when Yoshiko tried to cast her first charm that you stopped her from doing?

Chika: Exactly, five days ago she attempted to cast a charm to protect us all from ourselves. However I told her that with how much blood it would take it would have killed You, making Yoshiko blackened, and thus Yoshiko would die, breaking the charm and rendering it pointless. I’m guessing that after that, Yoshiko had some reason to stay in the central hall.

Nico: But hey, if we can’t figure out who else was there isn’t this kind of useless? Who cares why she was there if it won’t help us figure out who else was there?

Chika: No, it’s definitely important that we figure out why she was there.

Umi: And why’s that?

Chika: Well, nobody else was injured that night, correct? So I’m sure that there could only have been one other person, the person allowed to join Yoshiko in accordance to Monokuma’s rules. So it must be someone Yoshiko invited to join her.

Riko: Chika, where are you going with this?

Chika: Well, if Yoshiko had invited the person to join her then we can only assume that they must have been there for the same purpose as Yoshiko.

Hanayo: Yeah, that makes sense… But who would Yohane have invited?

Chika: There’s no way to know, it could be anyone. The only people with alibis are myself, You, Riko, Maru, Ruby, and Dia. That leaves the suspects of Mari, Nico, Nozomi, Rin, Hanayo, Maki, and Umi. We already talked about Maki but that doesn’t mean she’s completely in the clear.

Dia: What are we going to do then? Rule everyone out one by one?

Chika: No, that would be too difficult. What we should do is figure out why Yoshiko was there. Then some of the pieces should come together.

 

Rin: Well we don’t really have any good leads, do we?

Nozomi: No,  **there was definitely something.**

Riko: Do you mean the circle on the floor?

Mari: Oh! Yes, there was a **ring of ashes** on the floor of the bathroom.

Dia: Yes, Nozomi even tasted it…

Umi: But I’m pretty sure  **we never figured out what caused it.**

Nozomi: That’s right,  **the source of the ashes was never found.**

Chika: No! That’s not right!

 

Umi: So what, you mean to say that we do know where the ashes came from?

Chika: No, we don’t know where the ashes came from, but I do.

Nozomi: Well then Chika, why don’t you tell us?

Chika: Of course, while investigating, Riko and I took a look in the Storage room. Behind a shelf was a pile of boxes for candles.

Nico: Come on Chika, don’t be dumb. Candles don’t give off ash.

Chika: That’s right, but the candles relate to it. Now what would Yoshiko do with candles?

Mari: Well she would be performing a ritual of course!

Chika: And what would she need for a ritual?

Riko: She would need… A channeling circle, and her ritual dress.

Chika: And there you have it, the circle of ash was a channeling circle for a ritual. When we found the body she was wearing her dress so that probably should’ve been more obvious.

Ruby: Well… What kind of ritual was she performing? If she was performing a ritual it must have been meant to do something.

Riko: She had already cast her protective charm, so what would she have been performing?

You: Actually I think I can answer this one.

Nico: Then stop wasting time and tell us.

You: W-Well, when I was in Yoshiko’s room with Riko and Chika, I had them leave before I did. When they left I looked around her room a bit more and found this.

You held up a book that was titled ‘Simple Charms and Hexes.’

You: There was a bookmark in it and on that page was a charm that I assume is the one she cast. The summary of it says “A basic protective charm that will prevent the deaths of up to 15 people the caster chooses, however the caster can not be one of these 15 people. It requires an initial blood sacrifice of 1 pint. After it has been cast, the caster must perform a ritual every night, otherwise it will lose it’s effect.” So it’s likely she was performing the ritual that would keep the charm in effect.

Nozomi: Ok, so now we know why she was there and what she was doing. But does that really help us with anything here? And Chika never answered the question of what was giving off the ash. And what about the days before the charm was cast?

Chika: Well the ash could be anything, I was just using it as a way to get us to the conclusion that it was a channeling circle for her ritual. What the ash was from doesn’t matter.

You: As for the days before, this book has a serial number from the library here, it’s likely she was researching in there during that time.

Dia: Either way, the fact that she was performing a ritual doesn’t matter if we don’t know who was with her.

Umi: That’s right, we’ve basically gone off on a wild goose chase!

Riko: Well in that case we should rule out some more people, it’s our only hope at this point.

 

Hanamaru: Well how are we even going to rule people out?

Dia: Well, when I took Yoshiko off the wall.

**I had to reach up** to pull out the icepicks.

Mari: Does that really matter here?

Umi: Of course! It proves one thing.

**One of the taller residents must have been the killer!**

Chika: No, that’s wrong!

 

Umi: What do you mean? If Dia had to reach over her head then there’s no way one of the shorter girls like Rin or Ruby could have put Yoshiko’s body up there!

Chika: No, in the Storage room there was something else Riko and I found.

Riko: Do you mean the bloodstained stepladder?

Nico: The what now?

Chika: That’s right, there was a stepladder with blood that covered it about as high as the blood in the shower.

Riko: But wasn’t that only used so there wouldn’t be footprints? It could still be anyone.

Chika: No, if they didn’t want to leave footprints they could have easily used a mop from the cleaning closet in the bathroom. It’s likely that it was used to reach the spot where Yoshiko was hung on the wall.

Dia: But that still doesn’t narrow it down enough. There are way too many suspects. There’s no way we can figure out who was in the hall with her!

{Dia’s right. There’s no way to know… But maybe I can figure something out. Maybe if I lie I can get the killer to expose herself.}

Chika: Hm, okay, so I see, that makes sense.

Riko: What makes sense? Did you figure something out Chika?

Chika: Yeah… I think I did. I know who the killer is, it’s actually pretty obvious!

Nico: W-wait what? You know who did it? Then tell us!

Chika: Hold on Nico, I know how to make you all see who it is. Let’s go over what happened when we found the body. Then you’ll all know who it is.

 

Rin: I don’t get it… What’s this supposed to do?

Hanamaru: Well first  **Nico and Chika found the body** in the bathrooms.

Umi: Then  **Nico came to get everyone** else to come look at the body.

Dia:  **I took the body off the wall.**

Nozomi: And  **You got a towel** for us to put the body on.

Mari: I  **started to take the bandages off** of Yoshiko’s body

Nico: And then  **a note for You fell out.**

Chika: Hold it!

You: What is it Chika? Isn’t that what happened?

Chika: It is, but think about it again. There was something else that happened before the note fell out. Who was it that had left the bathroom before Dia had even taken Yoshiko off of the wall?

Ruby: It was… Nico… She came to comfort all of us who were too scared to look at the body.

Chika: So Nico… How would you have known there was a note stuffed in between the bandages?

Nico: I-I…

Mari: None of us mentioned it after the three of you left…

Chika: So Nico, do you care to explain yourself?

Maki: Chika, hold on.

Chika: So you’re speaking again?

Maki: There’s something that’s annoying me about this trial so far.

Chika: What is it?

Maki: You haven’t talked about the cause of death at all.

Rin: What do you mean? Shouldn’t that be in the Monokuma File?

You: ...I just opened it. The cause of death isn’t mentioned.

Chika: But isn’t it obviously blood loss from the crucifixion?

Maki: Is it?

Chika: If you thought it was worth breaking your promise over then I guess it must not be… But you didn’t even look at the body!

Maki: No but I talked to Umi about everything that was found in the bathroom. Maybe you just didn’t think it mattered since it was so simple.

The one thing we haven’t talked about yet… It must be…

Chika: Did you mean the rag that was blocking off the drain in the shower?

Maki: Of course, now why would that rag be there?

Mari: Well it was blocking the blood from going down the drain.

Maki: Wouldn’t it be somewhat absurd to take the time to get a rag just to block the drain?

Umi: I guess so… Well then what do you think the rag was used for?

Maki: Well, it’s just a hunch, but if Nico is our suspect then what do you think she would know about in the Center Hall that no one other than myself would think about?

Chika: Would that be everything that’s in the medicine cabinet?

Maki: Exactly, there were many drugs that could knock someone out, or even kill them if poured on a rag and held to their face. I’m willing to guess that the way she died was that the killer had poisoned them, and the crucifixion was done after they were already dead.

Umi: Why did you say ‘the killer.’ At this point we should just start saying Nico, we know it’s her since she knew the note was there!

Maki: I’m not sure about that. Think about how Nico’s mindset has been. She’s been like Chika, using the mindset that it’s better to just survive than to try to kill someone. After all, it’s a lot more likely for you to die if you’re put on trial. It’s better to hope you’re one of the lucky three that aren’t ever killed.

Chika: I know I was the one who was first suspicious of Nico but I have to agree with Maki here, Nico’s more of the type to try to get through this passively. She’s made it clear that she knows how unlikely it is to survive a trial.

Nico: Th-thank you for realizing that Chika.

Chika: However, I can’t deny that her knowing about Yoshiko’s note to You is very important. There has to be something up with that. Either there was another way Nico knew about the note, or Nico had her entire mindset shifted, as if she had a different personality.

Nico: Th-that’s ridiculous, there’s no way someone can change that much. I wouldn’t change so drastically that my entire viewpoint on this situation would change!

Chika: I would agree with that… Usually… But I’ve noticed some things. The morning we got the motive. When Rin, Maki, you, and I were in the Baths, your personality seemed to shift a lot. And You said something along the lines of ‘I thought you were a μ’s fangirl.’ Rin offered to tell me what was going on with you and she seemed a bit weird when it came to talking about it.

Nozomi: Chika, I think you’ve figured it out… please don’t-

Chika: Nico… Do you… have BPD?

Suddenly Nico, Nozomi, Rin, Hanayo, Maki, and Umi all lowered their heads.

Chika: I guess this is a sensitive topic… I’m sorry but I had to bring it up… It’s what proves Nico guilty!

Maki: Yeah well you could have avoided mentioning it directly… But you’re right… Nico has Borderline Personality Disorder. L-let’s just vote so we don’t have to talk about this…

Nico: No, it’s fine. I’ll explain what happened... Yoshiko said she wanted me to help her with her ritual. She said she needed me to make sure she wouldn’t pass out like she already had that afternoon. So I went with her. While we were there I guess I just got unlucky with timing and I felt my control over my emotions slip. I tried to hold myself together since I knew that no good would come if I let go but when Yoshiko fell unconscious from anemia I ended up taking some poison, I don’t even remember what it was, but I grabbed a piece of extra cloth from the closet and poured the poison on it before putting it to Yoshiko’s mouth. It was about midnight when that happened so I guess it wasn’t instant. I came back to my senses on one of the beds in the medicine room and I guess I must have gone to sleep. Probably because of the mental overload. When I woke up it was about 4:30 and I remembered what I had done. I decided that Yoshiko deserved a more interesting death than something as simple as that so I grabbed a few ice picks from the Storage room and crucified her. Also most of the blood in the shower was actually from the blood packets in the Medicine room, I just thought that Yoshiko would have liked to have a more blood filled death.

Chika: So… It’s not your fault that Yoshiko died. It’s your brain’s. You didn’t want to kill her. It was just bad timing on your part…

Nico: No, I wouldn’t say that… I can’t say I never thought about killing someone. If I could have taken Maki out with me… I had thoughts of killing someone, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. When I lost control those thoughts must have come forward and I killed Yoshiko… So go on. Vote me. I admit to my crime…

Nico looked sad. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her… It was the first time in this game of Monokuma’s where I felt sorry for the killer.

Monokuma: Well? Are you all ready? It sure looks like it! So let’s get this voting started!

Everyone selected the killer. When I looked up I saw a tear roll down Nico’s cheek, but she just wiped it away and looked at all of us with a smile on her face. Even now she was trying to spread her smile. She accepted what was about to happen. She accepted that she would be executed. She accepted that she would be gone. But it was hard for me to do the same.

Monokuma: Ok! So you all voted and here are the results! The resident you have voted as the blackened is… Nico Yazawa! You’re correct! And now the blackened must be punished!

 

**_TRIAL END_ **

 

“Well, I guess this is goodbye. Remember me, okay? And don’t forget to smile, even when times are tough. Sometimes it can be contagious. Chika, don’t forget my last message to you.  And Maki, please don’t hole yourself up in your room anymore, consider it my dying wish.”

Nico smiled at Maki, and Monokuma’s pulled out his mallet as his red button rose from the ground before him. Monokuma plunged his mallet into the button and Nico simply turned and walked through a door that opened behind her stand in the circle of stands that made the trial grounds. When the door shut behind her the screens on the walls turned on and what we saw was a bit strange. It was a field of pink camellia flowers. Everything looked happy. But before long everything went pitch black. When vision returned the camellias were replaced by black roses and it seemed to be night. Then everything went black again and there was a second Nico. Our Nico smiled at the new Nico who then pulled out a knife. Everything went black again and when our vision came back this time, Nico was on the ground. The knife in her heart and both hands holding onto it. The second Nico was nowhere to be seen, as if they were never there in the first place. Nico looked like she had died with a smile on her face.

“So… Let’s go…”

Maki sounded very upset. Who could blame her after that execution. It was sad. Nico’s death didn’t feel like the killer had been punished for killing someone else. It just left a feeling like someone we cared for had died at the hands of Monokuma. It built our hatred for the bear. It deepened out hope that we could escape. Nico wouldn’t be forgotten. She would be remembered as the woman who smiled in the face of death. The woman who was unaffected by Monokuma’s despair. The woman who wished only for everyone in the world to smile.

Everyone filled out of the trial grounds and back into the commons area. Nobody said a word. It was best to let everyone mourn their own way. But we knew this wouldn’t be the last killing. Monokuma would be back with another motive. He would try to make someone kill again. We had to stay strong. We had to remember Nico and her sacrifice. We had to remember Nico’s smile. If we simply didn’t give in to Monokuma’s despair we could live. We could stay alive long enough to escape some other way. That was what I believed. That was what I hoped for.

**_CHAPTER 2: END_ **

**Author's Note:**

> just something I wanted to say but if you suspect someone early on and decide to make a comment about it I'd be happy to read why you thought that character was suspicious! I love to read people's guesses and any comments are really appreciated! A lot more people have been reading this story than I expected so it's really encouraging me to write more! I'm also curious who people think are going to be the survivors, who kills who and how are already decided on so I'm curious about who people think is going to die!


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